Domesticated Souls: Vâlâ Nureddin (Vâ‐Nû) on Womanhood

Abstract

This study focuses on the treatment of women and the construction of female identity in the works of Vâlâ Nureddin (Vâ‐Nû) (1901–1967), a Turkish journalist and author. A reinterpretation of his works is critical in the sense that they have the potential to provide the reader with necessary knowledge concerning the roots of the unequal status of women in contemporary Turkey. The major argument of this study is that Vâ‐Nû appears to represent the still‐valid gendered common sense, which bases itself on the approval of the subordinated position of women. Throughout his works, Vâ‐Nû reformulates an essentialist worldview in which women are treated solely with an emphasis on an alloted nature. This essentialism, however, does not display a celebration of womanliness, but rather is utilized as legitimization for the idendification of women with the private sphere, as well as for the restrictions that they face in the public sphere.