The Meanings of Names: Promise of Modernity, Upper Mobility and Nation in Republican Turkey

Intervention en anglais

en présentiel

Séminaire de rencontre entre l’Ifea et Département de Sociologie de l’Université technique d’Istanbul dans le cadre de la seconde série de séminaires intitulé: “Humanities and Social Sciences Colloquium II” organisé par le Département de Sociologie de l’Université technique d’Istanbul.

Doğan Gürpınar

This paper traces the patterns of name-giving in the Turkish 20th century and relates it with the trajectory of Turkish modernity. Names attest the intertwining of political and national realms with the personal realms and negotiate the two. Names often reflect personal expectations and hopes and amalgamate them with the national ones. They attest promises of upper mobility, cultural change, move from the periphery to the center, appeals of urban life and incorporation to the Turkish national modernity. Demonstrating the trends in name-giving practices through decades, the paper offers an entwined cultural, social and political history of modern Turkey shown at the very personal level.

Doğan Gürpınar is an associate professor at Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ). He has published three books in English: Ottoman/Turkish Visions of the Nation, 1860–1950 (2013), Ottoman Imperial Diplomacy (2014), and Conspiracy Nation: Conspiracy Theories in Turkey (2019).