Nostalgia for the Modern

Esra ÖzyÜrek is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, San Diego. She is the editor of Politics of Public Memory: Production and Consumption of the Past in Turkey.

• Acknowledgments ixIntroduction 11. The Elderly Children of the Republic: The Public History in the Private Story 292. Wedded to the Republic: Displaying Transformations in Private Lives 653. Miniaturizing Ataturk: The Commodification of State Iconography 934. Hand in Hand with the Republic: Civilian Celebration of the Turkish State 1255. Public Memory as Political Battleground: Kemalist and Islamist Versions of the Early Republic 151Conclusion 178Notes 183References 199Index 217

“Esra ÖzyÜrek equips us to see modernity as both an ongoing invention and an object of nostalgia. Her analysis, exceptional for its ethnographic richness and ideological nuance, shows how power struggles between secular and Islamist political movements are reconfiguring popular notions of citizenship and the sacred in Turkey. Few scholars have devised such a compelling framework for assessing the mutual transformations of nationalism, Islam, and the state. This is exciting, innovative work.”-Andrew Shryock, author of Nationalism and the Genealogical Imagination “[P]owerful, rich, and impressive. . . . The clarity of writing, together with the subtlety and sophistication of the analysis, makes this monograph unique: one that is accessible to thoughtful undergraduates and intriguing for those more engaged with anthropological theories. . .” - Mandana E. Limbert (American Ethnologist) “[A] fine contribution to a multidisciplinary, rich, and sophisticated discourse on contemporary Turkey. . . . The author provides us with a rich ethnography, a sophisticated and nuanced theoretical frame, and a historical perspective through which we can understand her data and conclusions.” - Roberta Micallef (International Journal of Middle East Studies) “The book’s main strength is its lucid presentation of the concerns of Kemalist circles in contemporary Turkey and its analysis of some of the strategies they adopted to cope with them. . . . ÖzyÜrek’s study offers fresh insights into recent political and ideological developments within the influential Kemalist circles of Turkey.” - Amit Bein (Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society)