Research Article

The Palimpsest Memory of Anatolia: The Cultural Transformation of Turkistan’s Narrative and Hagiographic Traditions

Number: Özel Sayı October 31, 2025
TR EN

The Palimpsest Memory of Anatolia: The Cultural Transformation of Turkistan’s Narrative and Hagiographic Traditions

Abstract

This article examines the layers of cultural memory transmitted from Turkistan to Anatolia in the eleventh to thirteenth centuries within the framework of oral tradition. The structural continuity between the Oğuz Kağan Epic and the Book of Dede Korkut, explored through Vladimir Propp’s morphological model and Karl Reichl’s research on performance, indicates that epic forms maintained their function despite migration and political disruption. The transmission from Ahmad Yesevī’s hikmets to Yunus Emre’s poetry, discussed alongside the findings of Fuad Köprülü and Cemal Kurnaz, highlights the role of mystical verse as pedagogy and as a discourse of consolation during periods of crisis. The Velâyetnâme of Hacı Bektaş Veli, the Saltuknâme, and the Menâkıbu’l-Ârifīn, interpreted through Irene Melikoff, Ahmet Yaşar Ocak, and Nathalie Clayer, show that the hagiographic repertoire functioned as a narrative archive of sanctity and legitimacy. The writings of Kaşgarlı Mahmud, Yusuf Has Hacib, and Âşık Paşa underscore Turkish as a decisive axis of cultural translation and identity-making. Framed by the perspectives of Jan Assmann, Walter Ong, John Foley, Homi Bhabha, and Richard Schechner, this study interprets Anatolia as a palimpsest where the epic, Sufi, and hagiographic inheritances of Turkistan were adapted to new contexts and transformed into a multilayered cultural space.

Keywords

References

  1. Abu-Lughod, Janet. Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250–1350. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.
  2. Aflākī. Menâkıbu’l-Ârifîn. trans. Tahsin Yazıcı. Ankara: TTK Yayınları, 2006.
  3. Ahmed Yesevî. Divân-ı Hikmet. ed. Kemal Eraslan. Ankara: Kültür Bakanlığı Yayınları, 1993.
  4. Ahmed, Shahab. What Is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016.
  5. Âşık Paşa. Garibnâme. ed. Kemal Yavuz. İstanbul: TDK Yayınları, 2000.
  6. Assmann, Jan. Cultural Memory and Early Civilization: Writing, Remembrance, and Political Imagination. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
  7. Barthold, Vasilii V. Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion. trans. H. A. R. Gibb. London: Luzac, 1968.
  8. Benjamin, Walter. Illuminations. trans. Harry Zohn. New York: Schocken Books, 1968.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Medieval History (Other)

Journal Section

Research Article

Publication Date

October 31, 2025

Submission Date

September 8, 2025

Acceptance Date

October 30, 2025

Published in Issue

Year 2025 Number: Özel Sayı

APA
Sarıbaş, S. (2025). The Palimpsest Memory of Anatolia: The Cultural Transformation of Turkistan’s Narrative and Hagiographic Traditions. Selçuklu Medeniyeti Araştırmaları Dergisi, Özel Sayı, 155-172. https://doi.org/10.47702/sema.2025.53
AMA
1.Sarıbaş S. The Palimpsest Memory of Anatolia: The Cultural Transformation of Turkistan’s Narrative and Hagiographic Traditions. JSCS. 2025;(Özel Sayı):155-172. doi:10.47702/sema.2025.53
Chicago
Sarıbaş, Serap. 2025. “The Palimpsest Memory of Anatolia: The Cultural Transformation of Turkistan’s Narrative and Hagiographic Traditions”. Selçuklu Medeniyeti Araştırmaları Dergisi, no. Özel Sayı: 155-72. https://doi.org/10.47702/sema.2025.53.
EndNote
Sarıbaş S (October 1, 2025) The Palimpsest Memory of Anatolia: The Cultural Transformation of Turkistan’s Narrative and Hagiographic Traditions. Selçuklu Medeniyeti Araştırmaları Dergisi Özel Sayı 155–172.
IEEE
[1]S. Sarıbaş, “The Palimpsest Memory of Anatolia: The Cultural Transformation of Turkistan’s Narrative and Hagiographic Traditions”, JSCS, no. Özel Sayı, pp. 155–172, Oct. 2025, doi: 10.47702/sema.2025.53.
ISNAD
Sarıbaş, Serap. “The Palimpsest Memory of Anatolia: The Cultural Transformation of Turkistan’s Narrative and Hagiographic Traditions”. Selçuklu Medeniyeti Araştırmaları Dergisi. Özel Sayı (October 1, 2025): 155-172. https://doi.org/10.47702/sema.2025.53.
JAMA
1.Sarıbaş S. The Palimpsest Memory of Anatolia: The Cultural Transformation of Turkistan’s Narrative and Hagiographic Traditions. JSCS. 2025;:155–172.
MLA
Sarıbaş, Serap. “The Palimpsest Memory of Anatolia: The Cultural Transformation of Turkistan’s Narrative and Hagiographic Traditions”. Selçuklu Medeniyeti Araştırmaları Dergisi, no. Özel Sayı, Oct. 2025, pp. 155-72, doi:10.47702/sema.2025.53.
Vancouver
1.Serap Sarıbaş. The Palimpsest Memory of Anatolia: The Cultural Transformation of Turkistan’s Narrative and Hagiographic Traditions. JSCS. 2025 Oct. 1;(Özel Sayı):155-72. doi:10.47702/sema.2025.53