Re-articulation of the sign of Turkish National identity through the discursive performances of the Arab "other": the case of Arabs in Batman

Abstract

This thesis aims to provide an elaborated understanding of the concept of national identity through an exploration of the cultural identities of the Arab community in Batman and the consolidation of the Arab communal identity with the Turkish national identity. Concepts of national identity which are proposed by the dominant theories of nation and nationalism, that is, ethno-symbolist and modernist theories of nation and nationalism are criticized in terms of the evidence provided by the ethnographic study of Arabs in Batman. In contrast to the ethno-symbolist and modernist understanding of the concept of national identity, a new conceptual framework which provides a complex analysis of national identity is established by the introduction of post-structuralist theories of discourse into the study of national identity. Following this framework it is claimed that national identity is a process of signification or a sign which is unstable, shifting, hybrid and multiple. Although the modernist argument, that is, national identity is constructed is accepted, it is claimed against the modernist viewpoint that “nationals” are not only the objects of the imagination of nation but they are at the same time the subjects who imagine the nation. As they appropriate the national identity, “nationals” themselves tailor the imagination of nation and national identity in their own ways with respect to the cultural identities of iv their communities. Hence national identity has the function of constructing the nation, while it is also being constructed by the “nationals” in different times and localities of the nation. The study analyzes social imaginary of the Arab community in terms of the definitions of the Arab community by the members of the community and outlines the elements of the Arab communal identity. The unstable, hybrid and shifting nature of national identity is illustrated through the analyses of the renarrations of the Turkish national narratives by the Arabs with their inclusion of the Arab identity into the definition of Turkish national identity.