Türkiye’de Milliyetçi ve İslâmcı Dergilerde Japon İmgesi, 1939-1989

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the Japanese image in nationalist and Islamist magazines between 1939 and 1989. Some claimed that the perceived images of Japanese were only about modernization without Westernization. In fact, the perceived images of Japanese have various forms. The subject of this study includes the perceived images of Japanese in nationalist and Islamist magazines. The scope of the study is limited to nationalist and Islamist magazines which were published between 1939 and 1989. This thesis analyzes the differences and similarities between the perceived images of Japanese in nationalist and Islamist magazines. Moreover, it aims to show that magazines are resources that have sufficient information in the context of imagology. The categorization of the perceived images of Japanese in nationalist and Islamist magazines is as follows: devout warrior, Westernized Asian, non-Westernized modern, spiritual example, unreached ideal, Germany’s twin, uncompromising nationalist, potential Muslim, exemplary woman. The argument is that nationalist and Islamist writers tell what they want or do not want to see in Turkish modernization by using aforementioned images. The image of devout warrior represents the militarism, the images of Westernized Asian and non-Westernized modern show “wounded consciousness”, the image of spiritual example represents essentialism, the images of unreached ideal and Germany’s twin show alarmism, the image of uncompromising nationalist represents economic nationalism, the image of potential Muslim represents the dream of a “power-holder convert”, the image of exemplary woman represents the gender in Turkish modernization. The considered magazines represented all images of Japan in a positive way except the images of devout warrior and Westernized Asian. There are negative representations of devout warrior as an exception. The image of Westernized Asian is reflected either a neutral or negative way.