Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
MILLI FOLKLOR, sa.99, ss.77-90, 2013 (AHCI, Scopus, TRDizin)
The turbulent political period of the 19th century gave way to social change, transformation and cultural dissolution in Ottoman soil as well as in Europe. The shared reflex of intellectuals who recognized the change in the melting pot was one based on nationalism and it entailed embracing folkloric products that they viewed as bearers of cultural codes and at once setting out on an enterprise of discovering and collecting in order to protect them. When the two hundred year old history of folkloric studies in Turkey is taken into account, it will be seen in the works of thinkers such as Ziya Paga, Ignacs Kunos, Ziya Gokalp, Fuat Koprulu, Riza Tevfik Bolukbasi, who penned the first texts on folklore during the period between Tanzimat and the Republic, that the issue of "cultural preservation" is treated with this reflex, and the focus of action is adjusted on "discovery and collection". In this work, by inquiring into Abdulaziz Bey (1850-1918), a contemporary of the early period thinkers, though very rarely cited in the history of Turkish folklore, and his work titled "Adat ye Merasim-i Kadime, Tabirea ye Muamelat-i Kaymiye-i Osmaniye", his approach to the concept of "cultural preservation" and his views that from a teleological perspective draws him to or differentiates him from today's thinkers are examined. Abdiilaziz Bey, while for the most part viewing the issue of cultural preservation with focus on "discovery and collection", also at times draws on today's current conception of cultural preservation with his views indicating "representation and presentation". From this point of view, it can be said that Abdillaziz Bey, with one foot in the past and one foot in the future, is a prominent thinker at the onset of cultural preservation approaches. Furthermore, there being no mention of Abdiilaziz Bey and his work in the resources in Turkey about the historical process of folklore makes it necessary that this work be researched in terms of "Turkish Folklore History" and studied from today's perspective.