Modern Türk kadını temsilinin kurgusal bir otobiyografi üzerinden bağlamlaştırılması: Mor Salkımlı Ev (Halide Edib’in Anıları)

Abstract

Edward Said’s work Orientalism- one of the most influential works in post-colonial studies in decades- identified and critiqued how the West positioned itself in a superior position to the East through a series of mechanisms. Despite the fact that the book is attuned to issues of gender and sexuality, it is not a work of feminist scholarship or theory. Rather, it broaches the issue of sexuality as one in which the Western “male” gaze dominates the East, which is perceived as inherently “female.” Halide Edib’s autobiographical work, especially the part which covers her childhood stories, is full of evident which shows the representation of “oriental women” in the Ottoman Empire. In additionally, it shows how during the modernization policy in the beginning of the Turkish Republic, Turkish women took initiatives towards gender equality. By focusing on Halide Edib’s fictional autobiography, Memoirs of Halide Edib, it will be attempted to contextualize how Halide Edib became a pioneering figure and represented “modern Turkish women.” By doing this, Said’s depiction of the Western conception of “oriental women” will eventually be refuted by providing Halide Edib as an example.