Research Catalog

Title

The limits of westernization : a cultural history of America in Turkey / Perin E. Gürel.

Author

Gurel, Perin

Publication

• New York : Columbia University Press, [2017]
• ©2017

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xii, 273 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

"In a 2001 poll, Turks ranked the United States highest when asked: 'Which country is Turkey's best friend in international relations?' When the pollsters reversed the question--'Which country is Turkey's number one enemy in international relations?'--the United States came in second. How did Turkey's citizens come to hold such opposing views simultaneously? In The Limits of Westernization, Perin E. Gürel analyzes the complex local uses of the 'the West' to explain this unique split and its echoes in contemporary U.S.-Turkey relations. Using Turkish and English sources, Gürel maps Turks' reactions to the rise of the United States in the twentieth century. As Turkey transitioned from an empire to a nation-state, the country's ruling elite projected 'westernization' as a necessary and desirable force but also feared its cultural damage. Turkish stock figures and figures of speech represented America both as a good model for selective westernization and as a dangerous source of degeneration. Meanwhile, U.S. policy makers imagined Turkey first as the main figure of Oriental barbarism and then, during the Cold War, as a good representative for modernization theory. As the Cold War transitioned to the War on Terror, Turks rebelled against the new U.S.-made trope of the 'moderate Muslim.' Local artifacts of westernization--folk culture crossed with American cultural exports--and alternative projections of modernity became tinder for both Turkish anti-Americanism and resistance to state-led modernization projects. Gürel traces how ideas about westernization and America have influenced national history writing and policy making, as well as everyday culture and identities. Foregrounding shifting tropes about and from Turkey--a regional power that continues to dominate American visions for the "modernization" of the Middle east--Gürel also illuminates the transnational development of powerful political tropes, from 'the Terrible Turk' to 'the Islamic Terrorist'."--

Series Statement

Columbia studies in international and global history

Uniform Title

Columbia studies in international and global history.

Subjects

• Orientalism > United States
• Turkey > Civilization > Western influences
• Turkey > Foreign relations > United States
• United States > Foreign relations > Turkey

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-256) and index.

Contents

Introduction : good West, bad West, wild West -- Over-westernization. Narrating the mandate : selective westernization and official history -- Allegorizing America : over-westernization in the Turkish novel -- Under-westernization. Humoring English : wild westernization and anti-American folklore -- Figuring sexualities : inadequate westernization and rights activism -- Postscript : refiguring culture in U.S.-Middle East relations.

Call Number

JFE 17-4316

ISBN

• 9780231182027
• 0231182023

LCCN

2016046840

OCLC

968345870

Author

Gurel, Perin, author.

Title

The limits of westernization : a cultural history of America in Turkey / Perin E. Gürel.

Publisher

New York : Columbia University Press, [2017]

Copyright Date

©2017

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Columbia studies in international and global history

Columbia studies in international and global history.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-256) and index.

Research Call Number

JFE 17-4316