Suchergebnisse

In 1934, during the Kemalist period, the Surname Law was passed in Turkey, which required all citizens of the new republic to adopt & register under Turkish surnames. President Mustafa Kemal was given the name Ataturk, Father of the Turks. Since the 1980s, scholars have taken a great interest in the historiography of the early Republic of Turkey & Ataturk's role in it. They have researched a broad range of sources seeking to understand the legacy of the period as seen by various population groups. This paper seeks to enhance the social historical understanding of how a multi-ethnic population came to be constructed in the image of a national idea. Family name narratives & documents show that the registration process was uneven, shaped as it was by patterns of authority within families & communities. In some cases, the new names adopted served to change identities, as names are traditional cultural forms that situate individuals within national, gender, status, & ethnic groups. A range of factors influenced the selection of a name, including interactions between population officials & individuals or families. J. Stanton