AN EMIC APPROACH ON THE PERCEPTION OF “WOMAN” BY WOMAN MISTRELS

Abstract

The Minstrelsy (Âşıklık) tradition has an important place in the Turkish culture and is a live tradition which continues its existence in verbal and written cultural media from centuries ago until today. Minstrels are folk artists who act as a society spokesman, reflect the world view, taste of art, life order and traditions of the society, maintain them and serve as a bridge to pass them down to the future generations. When the tradition is considered regarding woman minstrels, and to the extent they are determined, many woman minstrels have performed their art within the minstrelsy tradition since 17th century; however, they have not been able to perform many aspects of the tradition (apprenticeship, traveler, being in the assemblies of minstrels etc); the studies on woman minstrels have been of more interest since the last quarter of the twentieth century. Woman minstrels about whom there have been inadequate studies have been considerably neglected. Minstrelsy has been seen as a man’s profession and “woman” as a theme has been widely used by the male minstrels. In the present study, starting from the folk songs of the well-known woman minstrels (like Telli Suna, Özlemi, Sarıca Kız, Didari, Şahturna, Selvinaz, Sürmelican and so on), the position of the “narrator-lyric hero” will be examined both as a subject and an object. How woman minstrels see “woman” as a narrator-lyric hero will be discussed from an ethical point of view. The social roles of woman minstrels in the tradition and the problems caused by these roles will be presented; it will also be revealed whether this affects their art as a “narrator-lyric hero” The Minstrelsy (Âşıklık) tradition has an important place in Turkish culture and is a live tradition which continues its existence in verbal and written cultural media from centuries ago until today. Minstrels (Âşık) are folk artists who act as a society spokesperson,. They reflect the world view of that society, their, art preferences, life order and traditions of the society. They maintain them and also serve as a bridge to pass them down to the future generations. When the tradition is considered regarding woman minstrels, and to the extent they are determined, many woman minstrels have performed their art within the minstrelsy tradition since 17th century. However, they have not been able to perform many aspects of the tradition (apprenticeship, traveler, being in the assemblies of minstrels etc.).The studies on woman minstrels have been of more interest since the last quarter of the twentieth century. Woman minstrels about whom there have been inadequate studies have been considerably neglected. Minstrelsy has been seen as a man’s profession and “woman” as a theme has been widely used by the male minstrels. In the present study, starting from the folk songs of the well-known woman minstrels (like Telli Suna, Özlemi, Sarıca Kız, Didari, Şahturna, Selvinaz, Sürmelican and so on), the position of the “narrator-lyric hero” has beenexamined both as a subject and an object. How woman minstrels as narrators-lyric heroessee “woman” has been discussed from an epic point of view. The social roles of woman minstrels in the tradition and the problems caused by these roles will be presented; it will also be revealed whether this affects their art as a “narrator-lyric hero”. The minstrels, who are representatives of the minstrelsy tradition, keep the tradition alive by maintaining their knowledge about the folk literature dating back to centuries ago in the verbal, written and electronic media, and become the spokespeople of the society which they represent along with their poetry and music. The expressions such as “the Minstrelsy tradition, “Minstrel-style culture”, “minstrel-style literature” emphasize minstrelsy, tradition and literature; the gender of the spokespeople who are the representatives of the tradition reveals itself in these definitions; however, the minstrels as the spokespeople of the tradition were thought to be men, therefore, the profession of “minstrelsy” was considered to be the man’s job; when “minstrelsy” like “literature” was related to the social gender practices, “women” were not considered much. This gender-based naming such as woman philosophers, woman writers, woman poets, woman painters, woman composers and woman minstrels reflects exclusion and marginalization. Although “woman minstrels” were not able to fulfill some characteristics of the tradition such as master-apprentice relationship, travelling and being in the assemblies of minstrels etc., they have held onto the tradition as “woman minstrels” from the seventeenth century until today and have tried to perform their arts. “Women” have become an object for the man minstrels, who are considered to be a subject, and found a big and productive place for themselves in the literature as a theme. Women have not been able to find a big place for themselves when compared to the examples of masculine language both as a subject/narrator (=lyric hero) and an object. How did female minstrels perceive themselves and their social roles? When the narrator/subject of poetry was a woman, how did she express the feminine experiences? It was not easy for the woman minstrels who were not allowed to play the saz and to recite poems to say “I am also here”, and the appearance of a woman minstrel on the stage is not directly proportional to the history of the tradition although minstrelstyle cultural tradition dates back to centuries. Existence of woman minstrels in the minstrelsy tradition is associated with how long women exist in the society and the proof of how long they exist as long as the tradition continues. A woman drawing attention to herself by bringing her feelings and thoughts into the forefront with her narrator/subject identity is not considered to be a normal “state of feminity” in a society based on privacy. It is not among the duties and roles of women to be amongst a poetic arena where the number

Özet

Âşıklık geleneği, Türk kültür dairesinde önemli bir yer tutmaktadır ve Türklerin edebi birikimleri dahilinde yüzyıllar öncesinden günümüze kadar sözlü ve yazılı kültür ortamlarında varlığını sürdüren canlı bir gelenektir Âşıklar, içinde bulundukları toplumun dünya görüşünü, sanat zevkini, yaşam düzenini ve beraberinde de geleneklerini yansıtan, yaşatan ve gelecek nesillere aktarılmasında köprü görevi gören, toplumun sözcüsü halk sanatçılarıdırlar. Geleneğe kadın âşıklar bağlamında bakıldığında ve tespit edilebildiği ölçüde 17. yüzyıldan günümüze kadar pek çok kadın âşık, âşıklık geleneği içinde sanatlarını icrâ etmişlerdir; ancak geleneğin birçok özelliğini (çıraklık, gezgin olma, âşık meclislerinde bulunma, vd.) yerine getirememiş; kadın âşıklar üzerine yapılan çalışmalar ise, daha çok yirminci yüzyılın son çeyreğinden itibaren ilgi çekici bir konu olarak algılanabilmiştir. Haklarında yeterli çalışmaların yapılmadığı kadın âşıklar, büyük ölçüde ihmale uğramışlardır. Âşıklık, bir erkek mesleği olarak düşünülmüş, erkek âşıkların dilinde "kadın" bir tema olarak oldukça geniş bir yer tutmuştur. Bu çalışmada, gelenek içinde adını duyuran kadın âşıkların ( Telli Suna, Özlemi, Sarıcakız, Didari, Şahturna, Selvinaz, Sürmelican ) türkülerinden yola çıkılarak, "konuşucu lirik kahraman"ın konumu hem özne, hem de nesne bağlamında ele alınmaya çalışılmıştır. Konuşucu-lirik kahraman kimliği ile kadın âşıkların "kadın"ı nasıl gördükleri emik bakış açısı ile değerlendirilmiştir. Böylece gelenek içinde tutunmuş olan kadın âşıkların toplumsal rolleri, bu rollerin neden olduğu problemler ortaya konulacak; bunun, onların sanatını etkileyip etkilemediği yine "konuşucu-lirik kahraman" kimliği ile onlar tarafından açıklık kazanmış olacaktır.