The tendency of otherization in the Turkish proverbs

Abstract

In the last decades, particularly in the field of social sciences the notion of "otherization" has been highly discussed. It has been seen that the tendency to "otherize" is a phenomenon highly common in the field of folklore, most particularly in the Turkish proverbs. In this context it is possible to see that "the other" has different qualities in different contexts. Ethnic, religious and geographic factors are the most dominant ones which forms the identity of "the other". Especially in the Turkish proverbs the foreigner is qualifed as "the other" and has generally negative implications. Most commonly "non-muslims" and the people who are not Turkish are called "the others". In another context it is seen that "the other" is thougt as the "enemy". In the international relations this rhetoric still influences the determination of "the other". In the last years it is witnessed that the belief of "the old enemy would never be a friend" has been used by the Turkish mass media as a reflection of the public opinion and the proverbs commonly used. It is seen that there are times when this tendency loses its validty. Especially in the rural places to define "the other" is more characteristic but in the urban places to otherize seems to be affected by the individualism. This study aims at analyzing the reflection of folkloric factors to the general stances of the folks and vice versa. It is possible to see the validity of the proverbs in the two parallel and at the same time opposite tendancies that the world is passing through during the last decades, globalization and the east-west tension provoked by the "clash of civilisations" thesis of Samuel Huntington.