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The Dream of a Village: The Yeşil Yayla Festival and the Making of a World of Culture in the Town of Arhavi

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Turkish Cultural Policies in a Global World

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Abstract

This chapter takes the Culture, Art, and Environment Yesṃil Yayla Festival as a locus of observation of the making of a world of culture around the town of Arhavi in the Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey. The analysis pays specific attention to the movements of associations and the dynamics of transfer, importation, and circulations of models and ways of doing. The chapter shows that there is no strongly designed and implemented cultural policy: the world of culture is rather constituted through a variety of cultural actions and is shaped by interactions, negotiations, and contingences. It argues that the world of culture coalesces or stabilizes at this specific point in time around what can be termed “rural heritage”.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The tulum is a bagpipe played in the Eastern Black Sea region.

  2. 2.

    Yayla is the highland pasture in the mountain that is/was used for animal husbandry in the summer. It is currently the location of many festivals (see Elias 2016). Yeşil Yayla means “green highland pasture”.

  3. 3.

    Small wooden building on piles near houses and used to store food.

  4. 4.

    Çay alım yeri is a small building found in every tea-growing village of the region in which tea is lightly dried, weighed, and sold.

  5. 5.

    The word Laz is used to refer to the people of the Eastern Black Sea region in general but also to Eastern Black Sea people who call themselves Lazi, speak their own language, and are also referred to as Laz by outsiders. The ethnic Laz were originally located in the Eastern Black Sea region between Pazar and Hopa, but the region has experienced strong outbound migration.

  6. 6.

    Horon is “a round danced on the northern slope of the Pontic Montains. A vigorous dance that proceeds anti-clockwise” (Elias 2014: 9). Translation from French is by me unless stated otherwise.

  7. 7.

    On the distinction between festival and şenlik and its meanings, see Elias (2016) and below.

  8. 8.

    “A civil society organisation that speaks to Turkey from the Black Sea and from Turkey to the Black Sea [and that] tries to understand, make known and solve local problems with universal concepts” http://www.golader.org/hakkimizda/. Last accessed 15 September 2016.

  9. 9.

    According to Callon and Latour, all actors are at the same level and become stronger through processes of association. They write: “An actor, as we have seen, becomes stronger to the extent that he or she can firmly associate a large number of elements—and, of course, dissociate as speedily as possible elements enrolled by other actors. Strength thus resides in the power to break off and to bind together” (Callon and Latour 1981: 292). Become strong “the one who is able to stabilize a particular state of power relations by associating the largest number of irreversibly linked elements” (Callon and Latour 1981: 293).

  10. 10.

    Beth Conklin and Laura Graham borrow the term coined by Richard White who defined the middle ground as “the construction of a mutually comprehensible world characterised by new systems of meaning and exchanged”. The new middle ground they study is “a political space, an arena of intercultural communication, exchange, and joint political action” (Conklin and Graham 1995: 696).

  11. 11.

    On this movement, see Toumarkine (1995), Beller-Hann and Hann (2001), Scalbert-Yücel (2016) and Taşkın (2016). The role of outsiders of the Laz country in this movement should be highlighted, as should that of circulations and borrowings: the fall of the Soviet Union made possible the discovery of Laz and Mingrelian peoples from Georgia by Laz activists in Turkey. This led to the import of songs and instruments (e.g. the çonguri luth), important in the work of Laz musicians from Turkey (e.g. Ayşenur Kolivar), and has certainly played an important part in the reinvigoration of the region. I should like to thank Nicolas Elias for highlighting this issue.

  12. 12.

    https://m.bianet.org/bianet/kadin/12296-sehirli-bir-genc-kizin-benlik-sevdasi, last assessed 12 May 2017.

  13. 13.

    All translations from Turkish are by me unless stated otherwise.

  14. 14.

    Later the funding became diversified with the Mott Foundation, working more on “capacity building”. See http://webapps.foundationcenter.org/rc/grants/html/71744.html; http://www.mott.org/grants/yayla-gola-culture-arts-and-ecology-association-cultural-ecological-and-economic-rejuvenation-of-the-eastern-black-sea-region-201300229-01/; http://www.mott.org/grants/yayla-gola-culture-arts-and-ecology-association-cultural-ecological-and-economic-rejuvenation-of-the-eastern-black-sea-region-201300229/. Last accessed on 26 January 2017.

  15. 15.

    In the first year the festival was organized by Colchis Music and the San Francisco World Music Festival.

  16. 16.

    See for instance http://www.sabitfikir.com/soylesi/refika-kadioglu-ile-soylesi-bir-dil-nasil-yasatilir. Last assessed 25 September 2017.

  17. 17.

    The details of the grants provided by the TCF are available on its website: https://www.christensenfund.org/funding/grants-search/?kwords=gola&f_year=all&gregion=2&theme=all; https://www.christensenfund.org/funding/grants-search/?kwords=doordog&f_year=all&gregion=2&theme=all. Last accessed on 26 August 2016.

  18. 18.

    See, for instance, an article published in a right-wing newspaper: Selda Öztürk Kay, “Festival Maskesiyle Ermenicilik”, Yeniçağ, 24 July 2008, http://www.yenicaggazetesi.com.tr/festival-maskesiyle-ermenicilik-8453h.htm. Last accessed on 30 May 2017. The Hemşin region used to be inhabited by an Armenian population, which has completely disappeared (or has been assimilated) today.

  19. 19.

    This said the HES are discussed in some contexts, for instance during the Nature Film Festival screened in 2012 or in discussion about the right to water( http://www.bugday.org/portal/haber_detay.php?hid=6646. Last assessed 20 September 2017).

  20. 20.

    See Le Ray (2005) for the case of Dersim.

  21. 21.

    Together with the term kültür, the term of değer (value) is also used.

  22. 22.

    Lazona refers to the Laz country. Note from the author.

  23. 23.

    Muhlama is a local dish with an elastic texture made of cheese, butter, and sometimes corn flour. Note from the author.

  24. 24.

    It is interesting to note that the first edition partly took place in the touristic place of Ayder, with a walk in the highlands.

  25. 25.

    http://www.mott.org/grants/yayla-gola-culture-arts-and-ecology-association-cultural-ecological-and-economic-rejuvenation-of-the-eastern-black-sea-region-201300229-01/. Last accessed on 29 August 2016.

  26. 26.

    This notion is the product of a collective and common work in the framework of the research program funded through the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ref. ANR-12-GLOB-003) “Trans-acting Matters: Areas and Eras of a (Post-)Ottoman Globalization” (PI: Marc Aymes). Last accessed on 30 May 2017.

  27. 27.

    Information can be found at http://yaylafest.org/en/eastern-black-sea-shore-fruit-heritage-sustainable-living-project/. Last accessed on 30 May 2017.

  28. 28.

    The project was led by Elizabeth Tüzün, Fusün Ertuğ, Mary Işın, Esin Işın, and Neşe Bilgin. Plant samples are now conserved at the Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanic Garden in Istanbul.

  29. 29.

    “Gola Derneğinde Atölye Çalısması”, http://etnofertug.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/gola-dernegine-atolye-calsmas.html. Last accessed on 30 May 2017.

  30. 30.

    http://yaylafest.org/meyve-mirasi-atolyesi-1-2-ekim-2011-tarihlerinde-gola-derneginde-gerceklesti/. Last accessed on 20 August 2016.

  31. 31.

    The film is available on the Facebook account of the project. https://www.facebook.com/251980458217382/photos/a. 301591863256241.71509.251980458217382/301597079922386/. Last accessed on 30 May 2017.

  32. 32.

    On the role of the culture of tea in the region and “domestication” by the state, see Hann (1990).

  33. 33.

    Kaynak kişi in Turkish. They also use the term “steward” in English, a word used by the TCF.

  34. 34.

    On hometown associations and their roles and functions in Turkey, see Hersant and Toumarkine (2005).

  35. 35.

    The project was called “We protect our culture” (Kültürümüze sahip çıkıyoruz). See http://arhavi.bel.tr/arsiv-site/arhavi-haberler/256-arhavideki-tarihi-evler-ve-serenderler-koruma-altina-alinip-restore-edilecek.html (last accessed 30 May 2017) and ISTAD Nena 3 winter 2014, 22–24.

  36. 36.

    http://www.arhavi.org/istad/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1963:tarh-laz-mmars-esk-ta-goez-dolma-evlermz-artik-tescl-edlyor&catid=1:stad-haberi. Last accessed on 30 May 2017.

  37. 37.

    ISTAD Nena 3 winter 2014, 18–19.

  38. 38.

    One mention of ecotourism is the National Strategy for Rural Development designed by the State Administration for Development in 2006 (TC Başbakanlık Devlet Planlama Teşkilatı 2006).

  39. 39.

    ISTAD Nena 3 winter 2014, 18–19. Here, Özkazanç explains that he has done much work in the village, including building concrete roads, providing water, and refurbishment. And now he creates this museum.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Arab and İslamic Studies, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

    Clémence Scalbert-Yücel

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  1. Clémence Scalbert-Yücel
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Marseille Member of INAMA Research Laboratory, Marseille, France

    Muriel Girard

  2. Sciences Po Rennes-ARENES (UMR 6051), Rennes, France

    Jean-François Polo

  3. Institute of Arab and İslamic Studies, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom

    Clémence Scalbert-Yücel

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Scalbert-Yücel, C. (2018). The Dream of a Village: The Yeşil Yayla Festival and the Making of a World of Culture in the Town of Arhavi. In: Girard, M., Polo, JF., Scalbert-Yücel, C. (eds) Turkish Cultural Policies in a Global World. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63658-0_8

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