Citizenship, nationality and minorities in Turkey's textbooks: from politics of non-recognition to ‘difference multiculturalism’

Abstract

Responding to the identity-based claims of discriminated-against minorities while maintaining a shared national identity in and through education is a continuing challenge for Turkey, as it is in many other national contexts. Through a systematic analysis of 245 Turkish textbooks, this study explores the presentation in them of Turkish national identity and those of ethnic, religious and language-based minorities. Textbooks in Turkey take their present shape and content as a result of a comprehensive curriculum reform of 2005 that aimed to make them conform to the norms of the EU. Despite this rewriting, the study shows that textbooks do not include any radical change in terms of the representation of the national self and of ethnic minorities. Indeed, a close analysis of the textbooks demonstrates that they still preserve an ethno-religious national identity. Recent attempts to include ethnic and religious minorities in the textbooks within the frame of a discourse of tolerance, on the other hand, show an inclusion on the basis of unequal social position for minorities.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank to the Delegation of the European Union to Turkey for funding the research project ‘Human Rights Violations in Textbooks III’ and those who took part in this study. I also wish to thank Christopher Houston for his careful reading of the paper and valuable suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Kenan Çayır is an Associate Professor at the Sociology Department of Istanbul Bilgi University, and Director of the university’s Center for Sociology and Education Studies. He works on citizenship, human rights education, the representation of national identity and intergroup relations in textbooks and handling controversial issues in education. His latest publications include Who are We? Identity, Citizenship and Rights in Turkey’s Textbooks (İstanbul: History Foundation Publications); Ayrımcılık: Çok Boyutlu Yaklaşımlar [Discrimination: Multidimensional Approaches] (Istanbul: Bilgi University Publications, 2012, K. Çayır and M. A. Ceyhan, eds.); Ayrımcılık: Örnek Ders Uygulamaları [Discrimination: Examples of Classroom Practices] (Istanbul: Bilgi University Publications, 2012, K. Çayır and A. Alan, eds.).