The cultural dilemmas of uneven and combined development (UCD): ‘the biggest agony of the Turkish spirit’

Abstract

Recent studies of international historical sociology have focused more on the interaction between the political and economic aspects of the world system compared to its cultural dimensions. In this article we want to address this lacuna with particular reference to the theory of Uneven and Combined Development (UCD here after). UCD is an attempt to develop a non-Eurocentric, non-linear, and historical understanding of international relations. It aims to provide a non-Eurocentric historiography and historical sociology that goes beyond binary oppositions of East and West, tradition and modernity, and emphasises non-Western agency in shaping historical developments. The cultural implications of UCD has recently been revived in world literature and cultural studies. We seek to contribute to this research by illustrating how UCD can help us understand the cultural implications of societal interaction through the use of Turkish literature, notably Peyami Safa’s work. We want to focus on the theme of the interaction between the West and the East in his work within the context of the theory of UCD as an example of how it manifests itself in the cultural field. Accordingly, the article is structured as follows. The first section discusses the key features of UCD as they relate to our topic, and the second section goes on to examine processes of Westernisation as they have occurred in Turkey and attempts to demonstrate how UCD is reflected in the literature of the period. The third section aims to show how the concept of UCD can help us better understand the implications of societal interaction in Peyami Safa’s work by addressing the various issues that are raised in Justin Rosenberg’s approach to analysing world literature. The final section concludes with general observations concerning the potential utility of UCD-based methodologies in constituting the foundation of non-Western IR theories.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The poem reads as follows in the original Turkish: ‘Ne içindeyim zamanın, / Ne de büsbütün dışında; / Yekpâre, geniş bir ânın / Parçalanmaz akışında’.

2 As Moran (1983, 197) argues, in Safa’s later works the struggle between physicality and immateriality takes on a more philosophical form, pitting idealism against materialism. At this juncture, it is important to underscore what Safa mistakenly understood from Marxist materialism; he associated it with ‘bodily pleasures, personal interests, and money’, which he believed Marxism was all about.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Faruk Yalvaç

Faruk Yalvaç is Professor of International Relations at the Atılım University. He holds a PhD from the London School of Economics. His research focuses on IR theory, critical realism, Marxism and international historical sociology. Email: [email protected]

Öznur Akcalı

Öznur Akcalı recently received her PhD from the Middle East Technical University. Her research focuses on the relation between literature and international theory. Email: [email protected]