TRANSCULTURAL PLANNING IN COLD WAR TÜRKİYE: TRANSLATION AND THE POLITICS OF CULTURAL DIPLOMACY
Öz
This article examines the Marshall Plan and the Franklin Book Program as key instruments of Cold War cultural diplomacy, with a particular focus on their implementation and impact in Türkiye. Drawing on the concept of “cultural planning,” it proposes an analytical distinction between intracultural and transcultural planning to better account for cross-cultural interventions shaped by asymmetrical power relations. Rather than treating audiovisual media and printed texts as separate domains, the study conceptualizes them as successive phases of a broader cultural strategy. The analysis combines documentary sources on the distribution of Marshall Plan films with a dataset of books translated under the Franklin Book Program. The findings reveal a structured sequence of intervention. In the initial phase, Marshall Plan films contributed to the visual framing of modernization, particularly in relation to agricultural development and technological progress, shaping perceptions of economic progress and social change. This phase was followed by the Franklin Book Program, which shifted the focus toward knowledge production and education. Translated works were concentrated in education, child development, and psychology, indicating a targeted intervention in pedagogical practices and processes of socialization. In this context, translation functioned as a site of epistemic intervention rather than merely a tool of textual transfer. As a “modern” allied state, Türkiye was subject to selective interventions aimed at reinforcing existing orientations toward Western models of modernization. These initiatives were mediated through local institutions, particularly state-affiliated publishing structures, highlighting the interaction between external strategies and internal cultural mechanisms.
Anahtar Kelimeler
Kaynakça
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Ayrıntılar
Birincil Dil
İngilizce
Konular
Çeviri ve Yorum Çalışmaları
Bölüm
Araştırma Makalesi
Yazarlar
Ceyda Özmen
*
0000-0003-0431-0025
Türkiye
Yayımlanma Tarihi
26 Ekim 2026
Gönderilme Tarihi
10 Mayıs 2026
Kabul Tarihi
24 Eylül 2026
Yayımlandığı Sayı
Yıl 2026 Cilt: 13 Sayı: 2