Amerikalı Misyonerler ve Modern Bulgar Ulusal Bilincinin Oluşumu

Year 2023, , 214 - 228, 20.10.2023

Translator: Celal Öney

https://doi.org/10.33709/ictimaiyat.1295761

Abstract

Ernest Gellner’i takip eden bu makale, ulusal bilincin, farklı ulusal bağlamlarda farklı şekilde bir araya gelen belirli yapısal önkoşullara yanıt olarak ortaya çıkan modern bir olgu olduğunu ileri sürmektedir. Dahası, bu kristalleşme sürecinin karmaşık bir süreç olduğunu ve farklı yarı uykuda olan süreçlerin baskın bir hareketle birleştiği bir devrilme noktasına ulaşılmasını içerdiğini öne sürmektedir. Bulgaristan’da bu ön koşulların ve nihai kırılma noktasının oluşmasında en etkili faktörlerden birinin, on dokuzuncu yüzyıl boyunca Amerikalı Protestan misyonerler tarafından yürütülen yayıncılık ve eğitim çalışmaları olduğunu savunmaktadır. Bu süreçte altı faktörün önemli olduğu tespit edilmiştir: (1) üretilen baskının (Print media) hacmi, (2) basılı materyaller için devasa dağıtım ağı, (3) bu malzemelerin fiyatlandırma stratejisi, (4) modern okulların kurulması ve yönetimi, (5) Modern Bulgarcanın ortografik standardizasyonu sürecinde Amerikalıların oynadığı rol ve (6) Benedict Anderson’ın modern ulusal bilincin oluşmasında gerekli bir bileşen olan “bağlantısız serilik (unbound seriality)” olarak tanımladığı şeyin düzenli periyodik yayınlar yoluyla yaratılması.

Keywords

Bulgaristan, ulusal bilinç, print media, Karmaşıklık Teorisi

American Missionaries And The Formation of Modern Bulgarian National Consciousness

Abstract

Following Ernest Gellner, this paper asserts that national consciousness is a modern phenomenon which arose in response to certain structural preconditions that came together differently in different national contexts. Furthermore, it suggests that this crystallization process is complex, involving the attainment of a tipping point at which time discrete semi-dormant processes merge into a dominant movement. It argues that in Bulgaria, one of the most influential factors in establishing these preconditions and the final tipping point was the publishing and educational work done throughout the nineteenth century by American Protestant missionaries. Six factors are identified as significant in this process: (1) the volume of print generated, (2) the massive distribution network for print materials, (3) the pricing strategy for these materials, (4) the establishment and management of modern schools, (5) the role played by the Americans in the process of orthographic standardization of modern Bulgarian, and (6) the creation through regular periodical publications of what Benedict Anderson describes as “unbound seriality”, a necessary component in forming modern national consciousness.

Keywords

Bulgaria, national consciousness, printing, Complexity Theory

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