Ziya Gökalp's idea of cultural hybridity

Nomer, Nedim (2017) Ziya Gökalp's idea of cultural hybridity. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 44 (3). pp. 408-428. ISSN 1353-0194 (Print) 1469-3542 (Online)

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Abstract

This paper is a reflection on the distinctiveness and scope of the ideas of Ziya Gökalp (1876-1924), who played a key role in the formation of the ideology of the Turkish Republic created in 1923. Gökalp is generally cast by interpreters as a “Westernist” or “modernist” nationalist thinker, like many other thinkers in late developing societies, whose chief concern was the establishment of a modern Turkish nation-state and who, therefore, tried to combine Western knowledge with the culture of his own society. Contrary to received wisdom, I argue that Gökalp developed not just a model of modernity befitting Muslim Turks but also a distinctive general theory of social life, according to which the cultures of all societies are hybrid, i.e., blends of other (past and present) cultures. If this is correct, then Gökalp’s social thought is more than a mere specimen of late nationalist ideologies; it is applicable to all forms of social life just as much as the ideas of the European social theorists he cited.
Item Type: Article
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
J Political Science > JC Political theory > JC11 Political theory (General)
J Political Science > JC Political theory
Divisions: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences > Academic programs > Political Science
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Depositing User: Nedim Nomer
Date Deposited: 12 Jun 2017 12:26
Last Modified: 26 Apr 2022 09:38
URI: https://research.sabanciuniv.edu/id/eprint/30308

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