Turkish nationalism and the evolutionary idea (1923–1938)

This paper sheds light on the role of evolutionary ideas in the making of Turkish nationalism during the Kemalist era (1923–1938). By so doing, it aims to challenge some of the dominant historiographical viewpoints as to the nature of Turkish nationalism. One is related to the Kemalist elites' predisposition towards the so‐called “scientism” seen as one of the bases for nationalism. We intend to turn upside–down the relation between the Kemalists' use of science and Turkish nationalism. Second, we problematize the “culturalist” origins of Turkish nationalism arguing that the seemingly “culturalist” reflections of the time were, indeed, materialist formulations based on the science of the times. We discuss in this respect the Kemalist elites' use of evolutionary ideas. By synthesizing the ways in which these elites employed evolutionary ideas in the fields of history, language, geography, anthropology, biology, eugenics, and pedagogy, we aim to understand the specific nature of Turkish nationalism before 1945. This secular nationalism conceived culture as having materialist bases and differed fundamentally from the culturalist varieties of Turkish nationalism coloured by Islam in the post‐1945 era. Furthermore, the paper empirically enriches the complex and entangled story of evolutionary ideas in the early Turkish Republic.     

Between nationalism and regionalism: Higher education policy and national/regional identity in Quebec and Wallonia

This article explores the nexus between nationalism/regionalism and higher education policy at the subnational scale. Relying on a Critical Discourse Analysis, the study investigates how notions of national/regional identity are discursively embedded in the higher education policy discussions of Quebec and Wallonia. A comparative approach based on the distinct logics of subnational politics in both cases is used. Whereas Quebec is considered a quintessential example of ‘subnationalism’, the Walloon case is defined as a political regionalist movement. The findings reveal the permeation of substate identity interests in both Quebec and Wallonia's higher education policy discussions, underscoring parallels between them despite their diverging characters. At the same time, the discourse analysis sheds light on important distinctions in the manner in which this identity discourse is articulated. By juxtaposing identity politics in ‘nationalist’ and ‘regionalist’ movements, the study aims to bridge their conceptualisation and critically reflect on the categorisation of subnational movements.     

Public game funding in the Nordic region

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we explore the policies related to support structures surrounding national game industries, with focus on the three Nordic countries Finland, Norway and Sweden, and investigate what kind of context the Nordic welfare state model has provided for game development. The three cases illustrate how Nordic welfare state measures have interacted with the games industry over time. While the political ideals have been fairly similar, our study demonstrates how the objectives and practical means of state engagement have differed significantly. We argue that although the three countries all have support schemes of which game companies can take advantage, there are significant differences in the degree to which each individual country has organized government interventions and support. While the Finnish state has treated game development as an endeavour in business development, the regional Nordic game program and the Norwegian state has developed a cultural policy that primarily aims to protect the cultural heritage. The Swedish state has not established a tailormade policy directed towards game development but has a broad spectrum of general policies for supporting research and business development. We suggest that future research should investigate how the public funding is structured and how discourses are formulated around appeals for more public funding for the games industry.     

On the shock of civil war: cultural trauma and national identity in Finland and Ireland

What role does national identity play after civil war? Is reconstruction possible on the basis of an existing identity, or does a new identity have to be found? Much depends on whether narratives of conflict are unifying. I use the tools of cultural sociology to explain why the Finnish Civil War of 1918 has become a unifying ‘cultural trauma’ for the Finns, whereas the Irish Civil War of 1922–23 never became the dominant referent in Irish national identity. The difference is explained by the greater shock civil war posed to Finnish national identity.     

Editor’s Note

Most previous studies have held that the system of Tubo gaoshen (an honorary identity mark) was an imitation of a similar system in the Tang dynasty, referring to the latter’s official costume decorations for its stratified office-holders. These studies have not given due attention to the characteristics of the title itself. From the perspective of the change of the Tibetan name and based on existing research results and historical records in both Tibetan and Chinese, this article tries to offer a new understanding and preliminary discussion on the development of Tubo gaoshen and several related issues. We find that there are two paths in the evolution of its name: One is from Sug to Yi Ge or Yig, the other is from Yig tsang to Yig tshangs. The former is used to denote a concrete gaoshen and can be added as a prefix while the latter denotes the abstract idea of gaoshen and no attribute can be used before it. When the two are used together, the latter is used before the former, such as in: yig tshangs pa ni zangs kyi yi ge gtong/ (As to the gaoshen [yig tshangs], [he] is awarded a bronze yi ge).     

Residents' attitudes toward ethnic neighborhood tourism (ENT): perspectives of ethnicity and empowerment

ABSTRACT

Ethnic neighborhood tourism (ENT) has the potential to not only alter the identity of the ethnic landscape but to also influence the distribution of power and economic benefits from tourism between ethnic groups. Such unequal distribution may foster divergent attitudes toward tourism between minority residents whose culture is at the center of ENT and those of the majority population whose cultural heritage is being overshadowed. With this in mind, this study compared the relationship between Japanese and Brazilian residents’ perceived empowerment from tourism and their attitudes toward tourism development in the ENT destination of Oizumi, Japan. Results revealed that even though the Brazilians perceived themselves to be more psychologically and socially empowered from ENT, the perceptions of empowerment among the Japanese were slightly better predictors of support for tourism and Japanese residents’ perceptions of tourism's contributions within the community. The findings suggest the importance of sociocultural determinants of resident attitudes especially among those who do not perceive economic benefits from tourism. The study also indicates the appropriateness of combining social exchange theory with more holistic theories to capture the complexities influencing resident attitudes toward tourism.     

Of Makerspaces and Hacklabs: Emergence,Experiment and Ontological Theatre at the Edinburgh Hacklab,Scotland

This paper commences a geographical engagement with makerspaces, hacklabs, and other workshop spaces which form part of a broader ‘maker movement’. It examines the arts of inquiry and experimentation found at one such site, drawing on ethnographic field work at the Edinburgh Hacklab, and makes connections with emerging themes of interest to geographers, including creativity, experiment, art, and nonhuman agency. Putting standard innovation-driven narratives of makerspaces into question, attention is instead turned to the events of emergent experimentation and creativity taking place in these spaces. To this end, Andrew Pickering’s concept of ‘ontological theatre’, describing powerful focal instances of agential symmetry between humans and nonhumans, is engaged with, in order to understand the links between Hacklab activities and emergent and complex aspects of nonhuman agency.     

Migration and the built environment: a spatial analysis of resettlement in Çeşme,Turkey

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the retreat of the Ottoman Empire caused a massive scale migration in the Aegean regions. This process was furthered by the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) between the Turkish Republic and Greece. Gradually, more than one million people were formally exchanged under the control of the respective national authorities. This study shows that the predictions made by political authorities regarding the expected adaptation and homogenization based on religious affiliations failed to materialize; instead, the process of migration generated its own unique and autonomous processes derived primarily from cultural aspects and social origins. This research examines the materialization of the migrants’ adaptation practices and the spatial transformations in the built environment at both urban and domestic level, in order to indentify spatial and related social conflicts that arose as a result of socio-cultural mixing through a case study of the Çe?me Peninsula, Turkey. The study concludes that the relationship between social space and the physical environment is intertwined, with spatial transformations based on residents’ home of origin, professions and economic prosperity positioned in a clearly defined hierarchy of meaning.     

Ceramic Production and Interaction in the Northern Range of Trinidad

Regional syntheses based on data recovered mostly from outside of the Northern Range have characterized the mountainous region in northern Trinidad as a boundary between two distinct interaction spheres during the Early Ceramic Age (ca. AD 350–650/800) (Boomert 2000 Boomert, A. 2000. Trinidad, Tobago and the Lower Orinoco interaction Sphere: An Archaeological/Ethnohistorical Study. Alkmaar: Cairi Publications. [Google Scholar]). Changes occurring on Trinidad, other islands of the southern Lesser Antilles, and the South American mainland resulted in the disintegration of these earlier style zones during the final centuries of the Early Ceramic (Boomert 2000 Boomert, A. 2000. Trinidad, Tobago and the Lower Orinoco interaction Sphere: An Archaeological/Ethnohistorical Study. Alkmaar: Cairi Publications. [Google Scholar], 2010). This period of Late Ceramic cultural realignment was characterized by climate change, the renegotiation of political and social networks, and demographic transformations. We consider newly recovered ceramic evidence from the central Northern Range in order to evaluate the characterization of the region as a boundary and the region's role in broader Caribbean trends. We examine participation in interaction spheres to provide a more nuanced understanding of regional dynamics as they were expressed locally. Ceramic data indicate that occupants of the central Northern Range interpreted regional styles using locally derived materials, thus simultaneously engaging regional traditions and constructing local patterns of resource exploitation.