Fragments of Lost Origins

The cityscape of contemporary Istanbul consists of intricate boundaries that play a significant role in the everyday lives of its inhabitants. This research report explores how various historical narratives of Turkishness are related to spatial divisions of the city and different frameworks of belo...

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Main Author: Pekka Tuominen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Suomen Antropologinen Seura (Finnish Anthropological Society) 2011-01-01
Series:Suomen Antropologi
Online Access:https://journal.fi/suomenantropologi/article/view/156831
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author Pekka Tuominen
author_facet Pekka Tuominen
author_sort Pekka Tuominen
collection DOAJ
description The cityscape of contemporary Istanbul consists of intricate boundaries that play a significant role in the everyday lives of its inhabitants. This research report explores how various historical narratives of Turkishness are related to spatial divisions of the city and different frameworks of belonging and argues that a notion of an authentic self has become crucial in defining urbanity in Istanbul. In contesting historical understandings, the ancestral Central Asian Turkic civilizations, the imperial history of the Ottoman Sultans, and the birth of the Turkish Republic are seen as a series of ruptures with complex definitions of authenticity and foreignness, especially in relation to religion and ethnicity. The aim of the study is to show how different historically constructed frameworks of appropriate practices and norms are associated with urban egalitarian spaces and traditional neighbourhoods and how Istanbulites cross boundaries between them. Keywords: Turkey, Istanbul, authenticity, modernity, urbanity, belonging, community
format Article
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institution Kabale University
issn 1799-8972
language English
publishDate 2011-01-01
publisher Suomen Antropologinen Seura (Finnish Anthropological Society)
record_format Article
series Suomen Antropologi
spelling doaj-art-57e23b42a8da466eb75809e012a9fca12025-02-10T04:53:18ZengSuomen Antropologinen Seura (Finnish Anthropological Society)Suomen Antropologi1799-89722011-01-0136110.30676/jfas.156831Fragments of Lost OriginsPekka Tuominen0University of Helsinki The cityscape of contemporary Istanbul consists of intricate boundaries that play a significant role in the everyday lives of its inhabitants. This research report explores how various historical narratives of Turkishness are related to spatial divisions of the city and different frameworks of belonging and argues that a notion of an authentic self has become crucial in defining urbanity in Istanbul. In contesting historical understandings, the ancestral Central Asian Turkic civilizations, the imperial history of the Ottoman Sultans, and the birth of the Turkish Republic are seen as a series of ruptures with complex definitions of authenticity and foreignness, especially in relation to religion and ethnicity. The aim of the study is to show how different historically constructed frameworks of appropriate practices and norms are associated with urban egalitarian spaces and traditional neighbourhoods and how Istanbulites cross boundaries between them. Keywords: Turkey, Istanbul, authenticity, modernity, urbanity, belonging, community https://journal.fi/suomenantropologi/article/view/156831
spellingShingle Pekka Tuominen
Fragments of Lost Origins
Suomen Antropologi
title Fragments of Lost Origins
title_full Fragments of Lost Origins
title_fullStr Fragments of Lost Origins
title_full_unstemmed Fragments of Lost Origins
title_short Fragments of Lost Origins
title_sort fragments of lost origins
url https://journal.fi/suomenantropologi/article/view/156831
work_keys_str_mv AT pekkatuominen fragmentsoflostorigins