DİSİPLİNLERARASI YAKLAŞIMLA BİR KUTSAL MEKÂNIN OLUŞUMU, PEYZAJI VE FONKSİYONEL ÖZELLİKLERİ: PİR HATİP ZİYARETİ (NUSAYBİN)

Abstract

In an interdisciplinary approach (Anthropology-Geography), based on the Pir Hatip Ziyaret Place and its surrounding environment, belief, culture and tradition variables, this study focuses on the analysis of the values attached to the Pir Hatip Ziyaret Place and the link between cultural structure and rituals basing on the perceptions and practices of religious world, and the influence of geographical conditions on the construction and the functions of the place. Also, it addresses the landscape and functional features of the geographical elements constituting Pir Hatip Ziyaret Place as a cultural landscape component. In this study, along with field observation activities, in-depth interviews were conducted with 31 people who were selected by snowball sampling method for qualitative research purposes, and the outcomes were interpreted. With a geographical and anthropological point of view, the study found that the Place serves as a cultural transmission mean and a triangulation point and an area of influence where it performs these functions as well as its ritual, healing, cultural memory, recreational functions. Based on the example of the Pir Hatip Ziyaret Place, it can be said that sacred places as a a part of socioeconomic life are important in displaying a different dimension of human-environment relations as well as their being used as a mean to harmonize the beliefs with the culture The phenomenon of religion is a factor having effects on almost all aspects of the life in the societies in terms of social, intellectual and mood states. For ages, human beings have attributed sanctity to some places and objects in line with their faiths as a manifestation of their reasons of being and mostly, have found concrete ways to express their religious beliefs by using these places and objects. Based on this concretization, social scientists studying on religious beliefs have developed different theories, and each discipline has tended to make a definition according to its own field. Some anthropologists like Geertz have defined religion in a more secular manner as a system of symbols which regulates and handles the perception of people on the general order of the existence (1973:90) or as a reflection of a human being’s attitude towards or deep commitment to the invisible on the social relations and a system of faith and worship for what they consider to have divine authority (Bettany, 2005:22) while authors from other disciplines including theology have defined it as a life style which determines and disciplines all mental functions as well as attitudes and behaviours of a human being based on thought and belief (belief in creator) (Gündüz, 2016:18-21;Kılıç, 2015:9- 14). While the present study aims to analyse the connection between cultural structure and beliefs mainly on the basis of the practices related to the places of visit with an anthropological understanding, the impacts of geographical conditions on the faith and cultural elements and of faithbased practices on the landscape of the place are emphasized with respect to the cultural and faith geography. Being a different consequence of the human-environment interaction in terms of geography, sanctuaries exist with the cultural values attributed to the places rather than their outstanding physical environment conditions. In other words, this study aims to address the concept of sacred place within the framework of an anthropological approach, which attempts to explain human with its culture and values, along with a geographical perspective, which attempts to understand and explain a place from almost all aspects. In doing so, the emergence of a sacred place with the attribution of several functions within the framework of daily life practices of the society of individuals as well as the differentiation process of the place from the surrounding environment along with its functions in the daily life will be elaborated. Attempts will be made to reveal the relations of location and accessibility (according to settlements, social and economic areas of activity) with the geographical (lithological, vegetative and economic activities) factors with respect to both functions and differentiation process. In other words, landscape and usage features of the geographical elements constituting Pir Hatip ziyaret place as a cultural landscape element will be highlighted. The concept of sacred place will be interpreted within the framework of humanenvironment interaction by considering the role of geographical elements along with faith and social values in the emergence of sacred places and their functions. Conceptual and Theoretical Framework It can be argued that definitions concerning religion and its functions vary by disciplines, and some disciplines claim that current life practices and functions have created the religion while some claim that the religion has created functions and culture. However, this is not the focus of the present study. No matter how the phenomenon of religion is defined, the accepted understanding is that the practices related to religious beliefs and traditions connect many cultural patterns to one another and influence them in different ways. This influence shapes all aspects of the social life as well as place and perception of place and thus, brings forth the concept of “sacred place”. Eliade states that the sacred is generally defined on the basis of the unholy in the belief systems and anything that a human being organizes, feels, confronts or likes can gain sanctity (Eliade, 2000: 27-36). According to Durkheim, all the known religions have one common feature: religions accept the classification of real or imaginary things into two classes by human beings as a preliminary truth and this is explained with the terms of “sacred” and “profane”. Sacred objects do not consist of only beings which are named such as the lord and the spirit. A rock, a tree, a water spring, a small stone or a piece of tree can be sacred (Dur

Özet

İnterdisipliner bir yaklaşımla (Antropoloji-Coğrafya) ortaya konan bu çalışmada Pir Hatip ziyareti ve çevresindeki, inanç, kültür ve gelenek değişkenleri üzerinden, ziyarete atfedilen değerler ile inançsal dünyaya ilişkin algılar ve uygulamalardan kültürel yapı ile ritüeller arasındaki bağın çözümlenmesi, mekânın oluşumunda coğrafi şartların etkinliği ve mekânın fonksiyonları ele alınmıştır. Yinekültürel peyzaj unsuru olarak Pir Hatip ziyaretini oluşturan coğrafi unsurların peyzaj ve kullanım özellikleri üzerinde dedurulmuştur Çalışmada saha gözlemlerinin yanında nitel araştırmaya dair kartopu yöntemiyle belirlenen 31 kişiden oluşan örneklemle derinlemesine görüşme yapılmış ve elde edilen sonuçlar yorumlanmıştır. Çalışmada coğrafi ve antropolojik bakışla mekânın ritüel, sağaltım, kültürel bellek, rekreasyonel fonksiyonlarının yanında, kültürel aktarım aracı ve nirengi noktası gibi işlevleri ile fonksiyonel etki sahasına sahip olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Pir Hatip ziyareti üzerinden denilebilir ki, sosyo-ekonomik yaşamın bir parçası olarak kutsal mekânlar, inançları kültüre uyarlama aracı olarak kullanılmalarının yanında, insan-çevre arasındaki ilişkilerin farklı bir boyutunu göstermeleri açısından da önem arz etmektedirler.