Amerikan Protestan Misyoner Haritalarında Anadolu: Mekânsal Temsilin Siyasi ve Kültürel Kodları (1890-1910)

Öz

Bu çalışma, 1890–1910 arasında Amerikan Protestan misyonerleri tarafından üretilen Anadolu haritalarını, mekânın yalnızca betimlenmediği; aynı zamanda ideolojik olarak kurgulandığı bir temsil rejimi olarak ele almaktadır. American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) başta olmak üzere misyon ağlarının yayımladığı harita ve raporlar; istasyonları, okulları ve hastaneleri işaretlemekle kalmayıp “unoccupied/unchurched” gibi kodlarla bir “manevi coğrafya” inşa eder. Çalışma, nitel belge analiziyle birincil (haritalar, yıllık raporlar, hatıratlar) ve ikincil kaynakları karşılaştırmalı inceleyerek üç bulguya ulaşır: (1) Harley ve Wood’un eleştirel kartografya yaklaşımıyla uyumlu biçimde haritalar seçici görselleştirme yapar; Protestan merkezleri büyütüp çok-etnili/müslüman çoğunluğu görünmezleştirir. (2) Said’in oryantalizm kavramıyla, Doğu “kurtarılması gereken karanlık alan” olarak kodlanır; dil, renk ve semboller “medenileştirme” anlatısını pekiştirir. (3) Nye’ın yumuşak güç çerçevesinde, haritalar yalnız saha düzenekleri değil; Amerikan kamuoyunu seferber eden propaganda araçlarıdır. Sonuç olarak misyoner kartografyası, Anadolu’yu dini-kültürel bir müdahale alanı olarak yeniden tanımlar; mekânın temsilini politika üretimiyle eklemleyen söylemsel/iktidar ilişkilerini görünür kılar.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Eleştirel kartografya
• oryantalizm
• yumuşak güç
• Amerikan misyonerliği

Anatolia in American Protestant Missionary Maps: The Political and Cultural Codes of Spatial Representation (1890–1910)

Öz

This study examines maps produced by American Protestant missionaries in Anatolia between 1890 and 1910, treating them not as neutral depictions of space but as ideologically charged representational regimes. Publications by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) and related networks did more than mark stations, schools, and hospitals; through labels such as “unoccupied” or “unchurched,” they crafted a “moral geography.” Using qualitative document analysis, the paper comparatively reads primary sources (maps, annual reports, memoirs) alongside secondary literature and advances three findings. (1) Consistent with Harley and Wood’s critical cartography, these maps enact selective visualization, magnifying Protestant centers while rendering multiethnic and Muslim majorities marginal or invisible. (2) In line with Said’s Orientalism, the “East” is coded as a space to be redeemed; choices of language, color, and symbol reinforce a civilizing narrative. (3) From Nye’s soft power perspective, the maps functioned not merely as field instruments but as persuasive artifacts that mobilized American public opinion. In sum, missionary cartography redefined Anatolia as a target of religious–cultural intervention, making visible the discursive and power relations that couple spatial representation with policy formation.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Critical cartography
• orientalism; soft power; American protestant missions

Kaynakça

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