An Exploration into the Formations of a Ghost: Gendered Terrains of Circassian Diaspora Nationalism in Turkey

Year 2021, Issue: Special Issue - Gender in the Caucasus and in the Diaspora, 51 - 74, 20.02.2021

Setenay Nil Dogan

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the gendered formations of Circassian diaspora nationalism in Turkey, a ghost of the 19th and 20th centuries. Based on in-depth interviews conducted with diaspora nationalists, it discusses the gendered constructions of diaspora nationalism through which Circassian diaspora nationalism connects itself and the diaspora to the host community and homeland and differentiates itself and the diaspora from both. This article explores the myth of “an almost matriarchal society” and the very gendered and yet apparently gender neutral project of return and discourses on in-between-ness and transnationalism as elements in the toolbox of Circassian diaspora nationalism.

Keywords

Circassians, Turkey, diaspora nationalism, diaspora, gender

Bir Hayaletin Yapıtaşlarının Peşinde: Türkiye’deki Çerkes Milliyetçiliğinin Toplumsal Cinsiyetlendirilmiş Arazileri

Abstract

Bu makale 19. ve 20. yüzyılların bir hayaletinin, Türkiye’deki Çerkes milliyetçiliğinin toplumsal cinsiyetlendirilmiş yapıtaşlarını incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Diaspora milliyetçileriyle yapılmış derinlemesine görüşmelere dayanarak diaspora milliyetçiliğinin toplumsal cinsiyetlendirilmiş boyutlarını tartışmaktadır. Diaspora milliyetçiliği toplumsal cinsiyet kurgularıyla diasporayı ve kendini ev sahibi topluma ve anavatana bağlamakta ve bu kurgularla aynı zamanda kendini ve diasporayı onlardan farklılaştırmaktadır. Bu makale “neredeyse anaerkil bir toplum” mitini ve görünüşte toplumsal cinsiyetsiz olan -ama aslında yoğun bir şekilde toplumsal cinsiyetlendirilmiş- dönüş projesini, arada kalmışlık ve ulusötesilik söylemlerini Çerkes diaspora milliyetçiliğinin alet kutusundaki unsurlar olarak incelemektedir.

Keywords

Çerkesler, Türkiye, diaspora milliyetçiliği, diaspora, toplumsal cinsiyet

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