Imagi-Nation of Gendered Nationalism

The starting point for this study has been
Anderson's definition of nation as an imagined
community according to which individuals imagine
that they belong to same national collectivity in
their minds. Even though Anderson talks about the
member of the imagined community as gender free
subject, it is obvious that each and every member of
this community is imagined either as male or female
subject. Being a female or male subject, in turn,
affects the form of belonging to the imagined
community. In order to understand the ongoing
production of gendered nation in Anderson's sense
which is mainly realized in cultural domain, novels
play a significant role in terms of representing the
imagined boundaries and functioning as mediums
through which cultural difference is expressed. The
aim of this study is to examine the making of women
as gendered national subjects in the novels in the
pre-Republican (Ottoman-Turkish) and early
Republican period (1908-1938) by focusing on women's
images and to analyze the formation of gendered
national identity.

Autorentext

Elif Gozdasoglu Kucukalioglu earned her Master's degree from
Leeds University in England. She conducted her Ph.D. research as
a visiting scholar at Sorbonne University and CERI (Centre
d'Etudes de Recherches Internationales). She obtained her Ph.D.
in Political Science from the University of Bilkent in 2005.

Klappentext

The starting point for this study has been
Anderson's definition of nation as an imagined
community according to which individuals imagine
that they belong to same national collectivity in
their minds. Even though Anderson talks about the
member of the imagined community as gender free
subject, it is obvious that each and every member of
this community is imagined either as male or female
subject. Being a female or male subject, in turn,
affects the form of belonging to the imagined
community. In order to understand the ongoing
production of gendered nation in Anderson's sense
which is mainly realized in cultural domain, novels
play a significant role in terms of representing the
imagined boundaries and functioning as mediums
through which cultural difference is expressed. The
aim of this study is to examine the making of women
as gendered national subjects in the novels in the
pre-Republican (Ottoman-Turkish) and early
Republican period (1908-1938) by focusing on women's
images and to analyze the formation of gendered
national identity.