Critique of eurocentrism in Kadro Journal

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2019

Tezin Dili: İngilizce

Öğrenci: ALİ KEMAL EREN

Danışman: Mustafa Şen

Özet:

Considering the history of the interactions between Turkey and the western countries, it might be stated that a substantial intellectual accumulation had been formed from the last two centuries of the Ottoman Empire until the foundation of the Republic of Turkey. In parallel with the modernization steps undertaken, a remarkable anti-western discourse has been formed among the Turkish intelligentsia. The emergent reaction to the West, which has lasted for at least two and a half centuries under several forms stands as an interesting social research subject. This research will examine one of the late examples of this reaction in a journal, namely, Kadro. Kadro journal was published between the years of 1932 and 1934, and based its discourse on the opposition of the West. Having been called as Kadro movement afterward, the journal aimed to provide an ideology to the Turkish revolution, which allegedly lacked any systematic program and ideology. There is a remarkable specialty of the Kadro journal among Turkish intelligentsia. This is the use of the concept of Eurocentrism, which was brand new for both Turkey and the world literature at that time. Kadro journal formed its ontological basis on the criticism of Eurocentrism. Accordingly, it will be examined in this study that how the term was conceptualized and by which dimensions it was criticized in the journal. In this sense, it will be argued that the concept Eurocentrism occupies a central place in the analyses of Kadro regarding political, economic, social, and cultural domains.