MESA Banner
Educating Citizens on Forming Strong Families at the Provincial Level during the Single-Party Period in Turkey: A Discursive Reading of the Gediz Magazine of Manisa People's House
Abstract by Faika Celik On Session V-13  (Turkey After Empire)

On Wednesday, November 13 at 11:30 am

2024 Annual Meeting

Abstract
Following the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923, a series of radical reforms were implemented with the objective of establishing a modern state. The nascent republic sought to rapidly elevate the socio-economic status of the nation through comprehensive restructuring across various domains including but not limited to population policies. In tandem with initiatives fostering physical and mental resilience in citizens, the state actively engaged in population planning, pursuing a dual approach to address rampant epidemics while concurrently facilitating population growth. Motivated by a fervor for modernization and pro-natalist policies, the new republic crafted an idealized vision of family in which while children were conceptualized as the future guardians of the nation, necessitating meticulous care and education, women were constructed as bearers and building blocks of robust future generations. This study aims to explore how the discourse of the "modern family," propagated by the ruling elite at the central level, was disseminated, comprehended, and embraced at the local level. The focus will be on the activities and publications generated by the People’s House of Manisa, a provincial city situated in the Western part of Anatolia. This research relies on a discursive analysis of the Gediz Magazine, published by the People’s House of Manisa from 1937 to 1950. As the study demonstrates, the Gediz Magazine constructed the family as a fundamental societal unit, upon which the destiny of the homeland and the nation rested. Consequently, the citizens of Manisa were educated, through articles in the Gediz Magazine and activities organized by the People’s House of Manisa, in the formation of strong families. While instructing citizens on the foundations of building robust families, the authors of Gediz Magazine frequently delved into discussions on marriage, child-rearing, education, and the roles that women should assume. Although there is a limited body of research on the People’s House of Manisa and the Gediz Magazin, existing scholarship lacks a focus on how the concerns of the new regime regarding family, children, and women permeated the local level. To broaden the scope of political and socio-cultural historiography of the early Republican Period in Turkey, it is beneficial to analyze the activities of the People’s Houses and their primary publications in conjunction with the local context in which they operated. This endeavor sheds light on how the sweeping reforms of the single-party period were disseminated, comprehended, and negotiated in various towns situated far from the center.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Turkey
Sub Area
None