Soooo... wow. We're spending the next few days in homestays in the village of Lower Eşenler, located kind of in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains. We've been here for a matter of hours and I've already had a thrilling succession of interesting thoughts, so there's lots of blogging to be done. I'll post in a series separated by thought process.
I've spent the last few hours chilling with my family, watching TV, and occasionally chatting with my hosts as much as my Turkish allows. There've been some surprising discoveries. I'd assumed that the rural, overwhelmingly headscarved, lower class would be staunch about their religion and support the AK Party, yet when I asked my host he said that he doesn't like AKP for economic reasons - the job market has been rapidly declining in the last four years since they've come to power (this was a much more nuanced response than I'd been expecting). He then proudly and rather emphatically declared that he was a strong leftist. Further conversation with Muammer, one of the ones who arranged the homestays, revealed that, in fact, the whole village tends to the left. Huh!
The dichotomy I'd been expecting between Kemalist urban areas and Islamist rural areas doesn't really exist. The call to prayer is observed to the same extent in the village as it was in Istanbul - that is to say, not at all by anyone. Turkish flags and Ataturk portraits, though they don't exactly abound in the village, are still very present and prominent. Far and away the most incredible evidence of Kemalism in Eşenler is my host's son, whose name is, get this, Mustafa Kemal! Mustafa Kemal! I kid you not!
I'd assumed that Kemalism and secular Turkish identity hadn't really spread throughout the country, and that in the more remote areas would still identify more with older Islamic bases for social cohesion. This is quite clearly not the case. At least, it isn't the case in Eşenler. But Eşenler may be a special case - it's a remote village with a constant influx of Westerners who are both spreading Western culture and eagerly receptive to learn about Eastern culture. How is that effecting the political thought processes of the villagers? How representative is this village of the whole?
2 comments:
Great that they would talk to you and give opinions.
Great Photo, Kevin. Glad to see that the camera is working and that you are using it to max advantage.
Sounds like the AKP is similar to the GOP ("he doesn't like AKP for economic reasons - the job market has been rapidly declining in the last four years since they've come to power").
I, too, would have thought that the farther you got from the metro areas, the more Islamic the locals would be. Wonder why this is not happening? Recruiting down? Locals to busy just surviving to get caught up in the cause? Or perhaps UNC is too worried about taking students to the more authentic villages that are more representative? Perhaps Upper would have been different.
Mustafa Kemal! Are you sure about this? As LB would have said, I knew Mustafa Kemal, he was a friend of mine, and believe me, there was only one Mustaf Kemal...
Post a Comment