Doğa, Toplum ve Modern Devlet: Erken Cumhuriyet Dönemine Yeniden Bakmak

Abstract

Inspired by the theoretical studies focusing on the modern state’s characteristic to reshape both social and natural worlds, this thesis sheds light upon the increasing swarms of locusts seen in Turkey during the decade following the establishment of the Turkish Republic. Another issue that the newly established nation-state had to deal with was the Kurdish revolt in the eastern province of Ağrı around the same period as the swarms of locusts. By means of an exploration of the documents from the Prime Ministry Republican Archives, Parliamentary Minutes, laws (Law on Locusts) and the press reflecting official ideological discourse, I argue that both natural and social resistance by the locusts and the Kurds was represented from within the same discursive framework.