The History of Physical Anthropology in Turkey

Abstract

The establishment of physical anthropology as a scientific discipline in Turkey was a direct outcome of the foundation of the Republic of Turkey as a modern, secular nation-state in 1923. Until the 1940s, anthropological research was generously funded by the state, since the discipline provided “scientific evidence” for establishing the biological/racial identity of the Turkish nation and supported the nationalistic agendas of the state. Following the Second World War, the notion of “racial identity” lost validity and state support from physical anthropology was withdrawn. Until the 1990s, Turkish physical anthropology became marginalized and remained isolated from the international arena. With the foundation of new universities in the 1990s, a revival began in anthropological research and question-oriented research agendas with modern standards gradually replaced the earlier deterministic research paradigms. In the last decade, Turkish anthropologists have been increasingly joining international associations and publishing in international journals with scientific standards. In this article, we focus on the impact of the political history of Turkey and the ideological agendas of the ruling elite on physical anthropological research in the country. In the conclusions, we point to promising directions for future research.