Orientalism and invention of tradition in cultural concept of Ziya Gökalp

Year 2010, Volume: 1 Issue: 2, 44 - 58, 30.12.2010

Yücel Karadaş

Abstract

Ziya Gökalp is an important figure of the Turkish-Ottoman modernization era who not only
played an important role in the formation of Turkish nationalism but also poineered the
foundation of sociology in Turkey. He is also one of the most outstanding figures who had a
great influence on the ideological paradigm of the Republic of Turkey. The present article
studies Ziya Gökalp’s differentiation between culture (hars) and civilization (medeniyet) and
his invention of tradition when theorizing Turkish nationalism. The article will also handle the
orientalist influence on this invention of tradition and differentiation between culture and
civilization. It indicates how Gökalp differentiates culture from civilization by taking
civilization as the scientific and technological plane that should be open to orientalist
influence, and hars as the plane that distinguishes the Turkish nation from other nations and
thus should be protected from Western influence. This article argues that though Gökalp takes
hars as the core principle of the Turkish nation, he thoerizes this plane by inventing tradition
and via the concepts that arose in the 19th century ideological atmosphere of Europe.

Keywords

culture (hars), civilization (medeniyet), Turkish nationalism, Orientalism, invention of tradition

References

• Chattarjee, P. (1993) The nation and its fragments: colonial and post colonial histories. Princeton, NJ: Princenton University Press.