Picturing modern Ankara: New Turkey in Western imagination

Abstract

Abstract:With the proclamation of the Turkish Republic, in October 1923, Ankara became the laboratory and showcase of the nation-building project led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Genocide, Diversity, and John Dewey's Progressive Education

“…Raising a similar point, Shaun O'Dwyer writes that it is no wonder that Dewey admonished his readers “to accept the current, ‘natural course’ of Turkey's modernization—a ‘movement in the direction of progress and light’ with which Americans could identify” (2011, 394). As a “modernist laboratory” (Deriu , 507), the Ankara of Dewey's narrative “was placed at the centre of a moral geography whose coordinates were assimilated to familiar ones” (504).…”

“…This contradiction reflects the emotional and cultural affinity Dewey felt, not with the subaltern, but with the imperial rulers and the preservation of imperial territory. After all, “early‐Republican Ankara drew comparisons with another western epic: that of the American frontier”; “Dewey's commentary was not a mere endorsement made by a policy advisor, but rather a passionate, personal plea that reflected the philosopher's own identity” (Deriu , 504). What is more, in my view, such affinities validate the renewal of imperial existence not only for Dewey but also for most “progressivists” across the utopianized spatiality of the (post)colonial era.…”

“…Progressive education was disseminated inter alia through journals, such as The New Era (Goodenow , 24), that evoked the utopianization of the “new” in their very titles. Concerning Angora, like Dewey here, most scholars of the time were still using “the old names of the main Turkish cities, Angora and Constantinople, in lieu of their new official denominations, Ankara and Istanbul” (Deriu , 525).…”

“… For instance, the utopianization of natality of the era is evident in the description that a feminist author of those times gave of experiencing Ankara as the “marvelous atmosphere of a great birth” (Deriu , 503).…”

Reflection of Political Restructuring on Urban Symbols: The Case of Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey

“…Deriu's study picturing the capital with regards to European observers claims that "the emergence of Ankara to the international scene, in the early 1920s, should in fact be considered a re-emergence" through the modern architecture, public art and town planning (2013a: 498). The European visitors of Ankara found the city as "a capital in the desert" with its main avenue, wide sidewalks, gardens and pavements lit up by electrical lampposts, and modernist buildings discarded from any Orientalist imagery (Deriu 2013a;. Turhanoglu (2010) argues that the main feature of this period was that the state was not only symbolized by buildings, but also characterized by space.…”