Ziya Gökalp and folklore studies in Turkey

Abstract

The following research is devoted to the study of the similarity between Gökalp and the romantics, as well as to the question of whether or not he left some influence on Turkish folklore studies, which continue to be based on the application of various European and American folklore theories and lack a clearly defined character. The aim of the research is to examine Ziya Gökalp’s views about folklore by looking at his works, as well as what has been written about him, and thus try to determine how the relation between folklore and nationalism, which was brought into force by European thinkers of the romantic period found its reflection in the views of Ziya Gökalp. The author attempted to determine how and to what end Gökalp evaluated this relation, and, in general, how subsequent folklore studies in Turkey were affected by his works. As a result of the failure of the attempted reforms, at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, the new ideas emerged in the empire such as Westernism, Ottomanism, Islamism and Pan-Turkism. Each of these ideas claimed that the empire could be saved and developed if their respective ideas were accepted. However, none of them managed to halt the nationalist movements that emerged first in Europe and then in the European lands of the Ottoman Empire after the French Revolution. In a short period of time the nationalist feelings among the ethnic groups in the Balkans increased considerably and played a major role in, first, diminishing the territory of the empire, and later in its collapse. Ziya Gökalp had written a number of essays and books where he had espoused nationalist views before the Republic of Turkey was founded, and he put folklore at the center of this nationalist ideas. As a scholar, researcher, ideologist, writer and poet, he in started the work in the field of folklore, also contributed to it with his works. Folklore studies longer history than the history of contemporary Turkey.  Folklore studies in Turkey continue in present time under the influence, in various degrees, from the folklore studies conducted throughout the world. Most of the folklore studies in Turkey concentrate on folk literature, traditions and lately in folklore theories and UNESCO Conventions.