Browsing by Subject "Eurocentrism"

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Open Access
19 yüzyıl Osmanlı-Türk edebiyatında öykü
(2008) Aydın, Hilal
In this study, the works Letaif-i Rivayat by Ahmet Mithat (1844-1912), Müsameretname by Emin Nihat (?), Küçük Şeyler by Samipaşazade Sezai (1860- 1936), and Karabibik by Nabizâde Nazım (1862-1893), which all have a number of aspects in common and are considered by Ottoman-Turkish short story critics to be among the first examples of the genre, will be examined by means of close reading, by interpretation of the effects of extra-literary conditions, and in comparison with Eurocentric approaches to the short story. In the critical writings on the above short stories that were produced in the post-Tanzimat era, allegations of imitation similar to those directed at the novels of the same era were put forward. A short story standard defined by Western literatures has been introduced into Ottoman-Turkish literature as the ideal formula. As a result of this approach, when the works in question are found to contain any aspects that do not fit such criteria, they are harshly denounced for their lack of skill, of competence, and of sense. However, as will be demonstrated in the second chapter of the study, there is in fact little agreement about the criteria themselves, as they continue to be debated and criticized from a variety of perspectives even within the context of Western literature. Nonetheless, quite dramatically, such criteria have been established as an unshakable foundation in Turkish short story criticism. A number of problems, particularly the classification of the genre, arise within this Eurocentricoriented critical approach insofar as such an approach neglects these works’ local background and the unique circumstances under which they were produced. In addition to the above considerations, this study aims to point out certain basic deficiencies detectable in previous criticism, such as the insufficient emphasis on the difference between the short story as a genre and narration as a means of expression. The study will also attempt to emphasize, in regard to the writing of the literary history of the Ottoman-Turkish era, the importance of defining these preliminary examples of the genre as well as their interactions and changes, and thus aims to underline the significance of these works’ local background as against the Western criteria forced upon them in previous criticism. Bearing in mind all of the above considerations concerning the Eurocentric critical approach and its deficiencies, the last chapter of the study will focus on the short stories themselves, and the data collected from these works will be interpreted inductively in an attempt to emphasize the idea of the locality and originality of Ottoman-Turkish literature. Ultimately, it will be shown that, unlike the general suppositions made in previous criticism, the aim of the writers of these short stories was not mere imitation, and that even the alleged Western influences on these works were reshaped and transformed in accordance with the uniqueness of the texts. Consequently, the study aims to contradict previous approaches, which support the idea that the short story, as a genre, originated wholly in Western literature.
Open Access
Against Eurocentric narratives on militarism
(Routledge, 2023-06-06) Bilgin, Pınar
Aspects of the recent scholarship on militarism, especially those who focus on ‘militarization’ as a post-9/11 development, have met with criticism by scholars who have underscored that the violence incurred by everyday people in the hands of the(ir) state – be it in Belfast, Cairo, İstanbul, Paris, or Rio de Janeiro – is not new insofar as military practices of have always impinged upon everyday life. Even as I agree with the critics, I submit that substituting the notion of ‘militarization’ with ‘pacification’ or ‘martial politics’ may not suffice. For, the problem is not (only) with the concept of militarization but with Eurocentric historical narratives on militarism that have informed this conceptualization. Accordingly, I locate the problem with militarism and militarization at an epistemic level: our approaches to militarization have been informed by Eurocentric historical narratives that consider militarism as a problem that belongs to a past world, which incidentally includes our contem-poraries outside the ‘West’.
Open Access
Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar`ın şiir eleştirisinde Avrupa merkezlilik
(2006) Pelvanoğlu, Emrah
Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar (1901-62), who was one of the most original writers of modern Turkish literature, especially with his novels and poems, had also contributed to Turkish literary studies by various articles, essays, and his well-known history of the nineteenth-century Turkish literature. In his articles and essays, Tanpınar placed special emphasis on the genre of poetry and interpreted the development of Turkish literature by putting poetry in the center. This thesis aims to analyze Tanpınar’s writings about poetry in general, and Ottoman poetry and Yahya Kemal Beyatlı (1884-1958) in particular, and to explore his conception of fine arts and his Eurocentric approach. In the first part, entitled “An Overview of Tanpınar’s Criticism of Poetry”, a brief chronological outline of the body of his writings about “Criticism”, “Poetry”, “Ottoman poetry”, and “Yahya Kemal” is provided. The second part of the thesis, entitled “Elements of Tanpınar’s Criticism of Poetry”, consists of two subsections: “Critical Interpretation According to Fine Arts” and “Constructing Continuity in Poetic Language: Selectivity”. The first subsection explores Tanpınar’s understanding of poetry as a fine art and his definition of it in terms of the characteristics of the fine arts. The second subsection discusses Tanpınar’s re-construction of a “classical” tradition by an intentional selection of poets from Yunus Emre to Yahya Kemal in the context of poetic language and his Eurocentric perspective. Tanpınar re-constructs this line of continuity by selecting verses, couplets, and poems according to European literatures, especially French literary norms, while valuing them with the conceptions of European arts, and finally making the mentioned line “Europeanized”. At the same time, he “orientalizes” the Ottoman poetic tradition and makes modern Turkish poetry subordinate to it, with the exception of Yahya Kemal.
Open Access
Batı Avrupa bilimine ontolojik temelleri ve Avrupa merkezci ideolojik içerimleri ekseninde Heideggeryen bir yaklaşım
(Uludağ Üniversitesi İİBF, 2008) Demirel, İdris
Bilim, insanî-toplumsal dünyada kültürel olarak inşa edilen bir bilme biçimidir. Bilim adıyla adlandırılan bilme biçimi, sanat, felsefe ve din gibi alternatiflerinden farklılaştırılırken, ön plana genel olarak kesinlik, nesnellik ve evrensellik benzeri ayırt edici karakteristikler çıkarılır. Bu çalışma, kökleri itibarıyla on altıncı yüzyıldaki Modernlik şafağına, ‘işlenmesi’ yönüyleyse Aydınlanma felsefesi ile akabindeki on dokuzuncu yüzyıl entelektüel akımlarına kadar geriye götürülebilen “Batı Avrupa bilimi”nin; mevcut yapı ve işlerliğine yönelik bir eleştiridir. Eleştiri çerçevesinde Batı Avrupa bilimi kavramı kullanılmaktadır. Kavramlaştırma Heidegger’e aittir. İnsan ve toplum bilimleri aksları üzerinden de tezahür eden sözkonusu bilim, Batı (kültürel bağlamda Avrupa) felsefesine yaslandığı gibi ayrıca Batı’nın üstünlüğünü gözeten siyasal içerimleri de haizdir. Dolayısıyla onun ayırt edici karakteristikleri gerçekte doğa bilimlerinin imitasyonu yoluyla sahip olunmak istenen vasıflardan ziyade Avrupamerkezcilik ideolojisine aittir. Avrupamerkezci ideolojik artalan, Batı Avrupa biliminin eleştirisini zorunlu kılmaktadır. Nitekim bu makalenin amacı da söz konusu eleştirilere kendi ölçeğinde bir katkı sağlamaktır.
Open Access
Beware the winter is coming! Arab Spring in the global media
(Routledge, 2017) Uludağ, P. C.
This study critically examines how the global media uses the concept of revolution when reporting about the Arab Spring. The understanding of the concept informed by historical Western revolutionary events perpetuates Eurocentrism which continues the inability to comprehend the regional, cultural, and political peculiarities of the Arab Spring. Media framing analysis reveals the use of the outdated notions of revolution based on six common attributes. The concept of revolution defined by the six attributes fails to address the events because it is delimited by its own Western origin and with its own understanding of modernization and progress. Such use of the concept is maintained by the media but also affects perception of the events while de-emphasizing their revolutionary character. © 2017 National Communication Association.
Open Access
The politics of studying securitization? the Copenhagen School in Turkey
(Sage Publications Ltd., 2011) Bilgin, P.
Copenhagen School securitization theory has made significant inroads into the study of security in Western Europe. In recent years, it has also begun to gain a presence elsewhere. This is somewhat unanticipated. Given the worldwide prevalence of mainstream approaches to security, the nature of peripheral international relations, and the Western European origins and focus of the theory, there is no obvious reason to expect securitization theory to have a significant presence outside Western Europe. Adopting a reflexive notion of theory allows, the article argues, inquiry into the politics of studying security, which in turn reveals how the Western European origins and focus of securitization theory may be a factor enhancing its potential for adoption by others depending on the historico-political context. Focusing on the case of Turkey, the article locates the security literature of that country in the context of debates on accession to the European Union and highlights how securitization theory is utilized by Turkey's authors as a 'Western European approach' to security.
Open Access
Revolution, modernity and the Arab Spring
(2017-07) Cafnik Uludağ, Petra
This dissertation critically examines how linguistic and discursive practices in global media discourses devalorize the revolutionary implications of the so called Arab Spring. By using media framing analysis it approaches the global media’s construct of the Arab Spring as a revolutionary event in three steps. First, it analyzes framing and usage of the name Arab Spring, showing how the name itself implies two defining characteristics of the events: the Arabness and the Springness. Second, it focuses on the universal conception of revolution, questioning its relationship with Western modernity that affects the way global media approach and represent non- Western revolutions. Third, it compares global media practices with local media practices, highlighting how Eurocentric understanding of the events affects media reporting in global news outlets. The thesis finds that regional, cultural, and political peculiarities of the Arab Spring affected global media’s reporting. When the global Western media approached the revolutions in the Arab world, the Arab Spring was not just a name; it became a condensation of political and social contexts that provided the meaning for the events. Western media has conceptualized the Arab Spring as a regional Arab event, a temporary awakening, that can suddenly turn into a suppression of will and progress. Further on the concept of revolution as used by the media failed to explain the events: first, because the concept is defined by its own Western identity; second, because it is defined with its own understanding of modernization and progress that is specific to the European context.
Open Access
Thinking globally about world politics: beyond global IR
(Palgrave Macmillan Cham, 2024) Bilgin, Pınar; Smith, Karen
This book asks what it means to think globally about world politics. In an attempt to contextualise the recent ‘globalising turn’ in International Relations (IR), it takes stock of more than 30 years of efforts at addressing IR’s Eurocentric limitations, and explores what ‘thinking globally’ means in practice through focusing on the study of (international) security and foreign policy. The authors offer thinking globally about world politics not as an alternative to, but as a critical engagement with, IR. It involves curiosity about what others think about the world, making a sustained effort to locate the knowledge they have produced, and recognising past and present contributions to what we otherwise view as ‘European’ ideas, practices, and institutions. Rather than focusing on abstract debates about the state of the discipline, the aim is to provide researchers with the conceptual tools to think globally and design their own research projects. © The Editor(s)(if applicable) and The Author(s),under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024.
Open Access
The 'western-centrism' of security studies: 'blind spot' or constitutive practice?
(Sage Publications Ltd., 2010-12) Bilgin, P.
Unlike some other staples of security studies that do not even register the issue, Buzan & Hansen's (2009) The Evolution of International Security Studies unambiguously identifies 'Western-centrism' as a problem. This article seeks to make the point, however, that treating heretofore-understudied insecurities (such as those experienced in the non-West) as a 'blind spot' of the discipline may prevent us from fully recognizing the ways in which such 'historical absences' have been constitutive of security both in theory and in practice. Put differently, the discipline's 'Western-centric' character is no mere challenge for students of security studies. The 'historical absence' from security studies of non-Western insecurities and approaches has been a 'constitutive practice' that has shaped (and continues to shape) both the discipline and subjects and objects of security in different parts of the world.