School Shows Staged in Public Primary Schools in Turkey: Tools in the Making of Future Citizens

Abstract

In schools in Turkey, school shows are common activities. However, there is no official school program regarding the content or preparation of these shows. In this respect, it is seen that the teachers’ preferences become decisive in the making of school shows. Based on a qualitative study conducted in Istanbul, including an ethnography in a costume shop, in-depth interviews with public primary school teachers and observations of shows, this article focuses on the ways through which school shows become tools for transmitting nationalist values to children in the absence of an official curriculum. Such an absence gives teachers flexibility in their decision-making processes regarding the content of the shows. Thus, they tend to justify their decisions by the shows becoming tools of a nationalist education. With the help of school shows, children are transmitted nationalist values by their teachers in either a Kemalist or a culturalist way.