Early Republican Ankara: struggle over historical representation and the politics of urban historiography
Author
Batuman, B.
Date
2011Source Title
Journal of Urban History
Print ISSN
0096-1442
Publisher
Sage
Volume
37
Issue
5
Pages
661 - 679
Language
English
Type
ArticleItem Usage Stats
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Abstract
This article discusses the emergence of a particular historical representation: that of "early republican Ankara." Becoming the capital of the newly born Turkish nation-state in 1923, Ankara was conceived as the symbolic locus of Turkish modernization. The old Ottoman town was rapidly transformed into a modern capital. However, "early republican Ankara" as a historiographic category is a product of the 1990s. In this period, two distinct representations of the city surfaced. One was the outcome of the incorporation of the postmodern critique of modernization into Turkish political history and was supported by the growing interest in urban studies. The other was a direct product of the nationalist call of the Turkish political establishment in the face of pressure from Kurdish nationalism and political Islam. Within this context, the notion of "early republican Ankara" emerged as a nostalgic image to promote national unity.
Keywords
Early republican AnkaraPolitics of nostalgia
Politics of urban historiography
Turkish modernization
Turkish urban studies