Monuments to the Republic: school as a nationalising discourse in Turkey
- Autores: Sabiha Bilgi
- Localización: Paedagogica Historica: International journal of the history of education, ISSN 0030-9230, Vol. 50, Nº. 3, 2014, págs. 356-370
- Idioma: inglés
- Enlaces
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Resumen
This article examines the cultural construction of the school in Turkey in relation to the construction of Turkish nation-ness. By looking at how the modern school was fit together with a network of interrelated discourses available in early twentieth-century Turkey, the article investigates the ways in which the school became an object of thought in support of narrating and imagining Turkish nation-ness. In the article, I argue that the school was pivotal in the imagination and institution of Turkey not only literally but also symbolically. Juxtaposed with a radically contrasting image of the traditional educational establishment of the Ottoman dynastic past called mahalle mektebi, the school was appropriated by the Republican elite as a statement of modernity, national character and a total break from the Ottoman past. Giving a visual expression to the new regime's aspirations for the society, the school, with its very architecture, layout and disciplinary and hierarchical organisation, functioned as a clear symbol of enlightenment, civility, order and progress.
