ISLAMOPHOBIC TENDENCIES AND THE OTHERIZED OTTOMAN IN THEATER PLAYS FROM THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE TO THE REPUBLIC (1860-1950)

Islamophobia has been among the most emphasized concepts in various parts of the world for almost a quarter of a century, especially in the West. The idea, similarly discussed in Islamic countries, draws attention as a product of understandings in which orientalist and self-orientalist perspectives are determinant. Based on the alterity and hostility of a particular segment through the production of a fictionalized image, this approach is the name of an attitude and behavior that has continued in Turkey since the Tanzimat Period. The attempts to ensure that the masses accept the official (Kemalist) ideology in the nation-identity building process, which started mainly after the establishment of the Republic, entails the otherization of "Ottoman" and "Islam" and injecting Islamophobic elements into the masses and revealing the negative image of Islam were among the most used strategies. At this point, it can be asserted that art, in particular, and theater, in general, were strongly instrumentalized, and the texts of the plays were structured directly or indirectly with Islamophobic tendencies for this purpose. Thus, this situation, predominant in the early phase of the Republic, continued to be the dominant tendency of humorous plays in the later periods.

Journal

DINBILIMLERI AKADEMIK ARASTIRMA DERGISI-JOURNAL OF ACADEMIC RESEARCH IN RELIGIOUS SCIENCES

Year

2022

Volume

22

Issue

2

Pages

1119-1151

ISSN

1303-9199

WoS UID

WOS:000928444600015