The Routledge Intermediate Turkish Reader

Political and Cultural Articles

Senel Symons

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN:
  9780415568173
• eBook ISBN:
  9781136734168
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Languages
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

NEW: The Routledge Intermediate Turkish Reader APP is now available on Google Play:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.oxola.turkishreader

The Routledge Intermediate Turkish Reader has been specially designed for intermediate and advanced learners of Turkish and comprises a broad selection of graded readings.

Written by prominent Turkish academics and journalists, the collection of modern texts presented here have been carefully selected to ensure students receive maximum exposure to current political and cultural issues related to Turkey; from gender, ethnicity, religion and social class through to arts and history.

Each reading is fully supported by:

• an introduction written by an expert in the related field

• a vocabulary list with English translation and vocabulary in context

• short grammar explanations of any difficult structures encountered in the text

• comprehension questions directly text related, language exercises and subject specific questions to generate class-discussion and essay writing in Turkish

• a key to comprehension questions and language exercises

• a list of suggested further reading (online support).

Suitable for both class use and independent study, The Routledge Intermediate Turkish Reader is an essential tool for increasing language proficiency and enriching the learners' socio-cultural knowledge of Turkey.

Companion website available at http://www.senelsymons.co.uk/books/

Introductions in English by: Dr. Senel Symons, Oxford University, Prof. Dr. E. Fuat Keyman, Koç University, Prof. Dr. Ümit Cizre, Bilkent University, Dr. Can Dündar, journalist, writer, columnist, director, Dr. Martin Stokes, Oxford University, Prof. Dr. Cemil Koçak, Sabanc? University, Prof. Dr. Fatih Selami Mahmuto?lu, ?stanbul University, Prof. Dr. Fatma Gök, Bo?aziçi University, Prof. Dr. Dilek Cindo?lu, Bilkent University, Prof. Dr. Y?ld?z Silier, Bo?aziçi University, Prof. Dr. Ay?egül Kibaro?lu, Middle East Technical University, Prof. Dr. Oya Pancaro?lu, Bo?aziçi University, Prof. Dr. Meliz Ergin, Koç University, Prof. Dr. Özlem Tür, Middle East Technical University, Prof. Dr. Ay?e Uydurano?lu, Bilgi University, Prof. Dr. Zeynep Gambetti, Bo?aziçi University, Prof. Dr. Saime Özçürümez, Bilkent University, Prof. Dr. Kür?ad Ertu?rul, Middle East Technical University, Dr. Selin Akyüz-?a?maz, Bilkent University.

The articles in Turkish by: Prof. Dr. Murat Belge, Bilgi University, Prof. Dr. Orhan Tekelio?lu, Bahçe?ehir University, Prof. Dr. E. Fuat Keyman, Koç University, Murat Yetkin, journalist, columnist, lecturer, Radikal, Prof. Dr. Türker Alkan, Çankaya University, Prof. Dr. Bask?n Oran, Ankara University, Prof. Dr. Hakan Hakeri, Ondokuz May?s University; Cem Erciyes, journalist, Radikal, Dr. Fikret Bila, journalist, columnist, Milliyet, Prof. Dr. ?ahin Alpay, Bahçe?ehir University, Prof. Dr. Mümtaz'er Türköne, Gazi University, Prof. Dr. Mahnaz Gümrükçüo?lu, Sakarya University, Dr. Ali Bayramo?lu, journalist, Yeni ?afak, Prof. Dr. Hakk? Uyar, Dokuz Eylül University, Ay?e Hür, historian, journalist, columnist, Taraf.

Chapter 1: Gender and education in Turkey

Fatma Gök, Boğaziçi University

Women face multifaceted discrimination within the education system in Turkey. The roots of this discrimination lie in a patriarchal and male-dominated social system which normalizes and legitimizes this discrimination and presents it as natural and inevitable. The patriarchal social system rests upon the class inequality of capitalism and acts in concert with its economic and cultural processes.

Discrimination against women in the educational system starts very early. Although eight years of primary education are compulsory in Turkey, women access primary education less than men. Considering the whole female population, only 37.2 per cent finish primary school, 7.4 per cent secondary school and 10.6 per cent high school or its equivalent. A mere 3.9 per cent graduate from a higher education institution. By increasing the mandatory level of education to eight years in 1997 more women have begun to receive education which in effect also means that more women have started to earn an independent income. But dialectics has taught us that it also means that they become part of the exploited capitalist workforce.

In order to understand fully the relationship between women and education one must see more than simple discrimination in terms of quantity, and develop an approach that deals with the social functions of education from the woman’s perspective and examines the effects of a patriarchal society. Important issues such as sensitivity towards the condition of women, the quality and content of education, the ways of transmitting this content by teachers, the school culture and climate and the structure of educational institutions must be examined with this kind of approach.

Although schools exist within a male-dominated society, they have a certain degree of autonomy. They are crucial because they can play an important role in the process of social transformation and establishment of a more equal educational system which promotes social justice. While generally schools reproduce inequality along class, sex and race lines, they are distinct from other major social institutions, such as workplaces, in that they are inherently much less hierarchical and much more participative. Among students and teachers, the female–male ratio tends to be more equal than in other social institutions.

Because schools transmit and produce knowledge, they can be independent of the economic process, and have the potential to promote critical hearts and minds. We need to recognize the potential power of education, without expecting it to transform the whole of society.

Turkey offers a unique example regarding the emancipation of women at the beginning of the Turkish Republic. Women’s participation in all levels of education was an important component within Turkish modernization. The Kemalist reforms successfully attempted to emancipate women through decrees from above and this can be witnessed in the changes to the law that granted equal rights...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Author biography
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication page
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Gender and education in Turkey
• 2 The social construction of men in Turkey
• 3 The problematic headscarf in Turkey
• 4 The concept of happiness in Turkey
• 5 The politics of water in Turkey
• 6 The new Turkish penal code
• 7 Sexual honour in Turkey
• 8 The multiculturalism of Turks throughout history
• 9 Orhan Pamuk’s contribution to the literary world
• 10 The Turkish military’s political role
• 11 Turkey and the Middle East
• 12 Economic sustainability in Turkey and in the world
• 13 The Kurdish question in Turkey
• 14 Nationalism in Turkey
• 15 Turkish cinema and politics
• 16 Arabesk music in Turkey
• 17 Recent relations between the EU and Turkey
• 18 The Turkish left and Kemalism
• 19 Turkish perceptions of ‘the West’
• Key to exercises
• Index