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Overwriting Smyrna: Urban Imaginaries in Turkish-Nationalist Commemoration

Janson, Torsten LU (2023) Smyrna as Symbol: From the 19th Century to September 1922
Abstract
Despite its importance for the establishment of modern Turkey, İzmir remains understudied in scholarship on Turkish nationalism. This paper presents data from the project Beyond Sacred/Secular Cities, studying urban imaginaries in contemporary Middle Eastern nationalisms. With a point of departure in theories of memory (Connerton 1989), postsecularism (Asad 2018), and social construction of space (Lefevbre 1991), the project explores cities as concomitant socio-spatial stages and symbolic-narrative resources (Çınar & Bender 2007), for the construction and contest of nationalism. Focusing local-urban historiography and commemorative-performative practice (rather than state-centrist discourse), the project probes the entangled symbolic... (More)
Despite its importance for the establishment of modern Turkey, İzmir remains understudied in scholarship on Turkish nationalism. This paper presents data from the project Beyond Sacred/Secular Cities, studying urban imaginaries in contemporary Middle Eastern nationalisms. With a point of departure in theories of memory (Connerton 1989), postsecularism (Asad 2018), and social construction of space (Lefevbre 1991), the project explores cities as concomitant socio-spatial stages and symbolic-narrative resources (Çınar & Bender 2007), for the construction and contest of nationalism. Focusing local-urban historiography and commemorative-performative practice (rather than state-centrist discourse), the project probes the entangled symbolic universes comprising political imaginaries, beyond dichotomies such as sacred/secular and traditional/modern (Eickelman & Piscatori 1996).

The present paper presents fieldwork from the cultural-commemorative events organized for the 2022 centenary of the (proto)Turkish conquest of Smyrna. It explores the historiographic narratives and textual/visual/spatial representations of commemorative exhibitions, film-screenings, and architectural projects. Ranging from amnesia to convoluted detail; from dramatic orchestration to meticulous documentation; from sanguine festivity to victimhood, the narratives are guided by affective overtones, yet avoid direct engagement with questions of culpability. In effect, traumatic Smyrna is overwritten with triumphant İzmir: an urban autobiography coextensive with the nascent Republic, symbolic of socio-economic restoration and local-cultural enterprise. (Less)
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author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to conference
publication status
published
subject
conference name
Smyrna as Symbol: From the 19th Century to September 1922
conference location
Athens, Greece
conference dates
2023-05-12 - 2023-05-14
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ad43d04b-b26b-430c-9ed7-10aad30ee2bb
date added to LUP
2025-12-09 15:27:19
date last changed
2025-12-11 11:21:43
@misc{ad43d04b-b26b-430c-9ed7-10aad30ee2bb,
  abstract     = {{Despite its importance for the establishment of modern Turkey, İzmir remains understudied in scholarship on Turkish nationalism. This paper presents data from the project Beyond Sacred/Secular Cities, studying urban imaginaries in contemporary Middle Eastern nationalisms. With a point of departure in theories of memory (Connerton 1989), postsecularism (Asad 2018), and social construction of space (Lefevbre 1991), the project explores cities as concomitant socio-spatial stages and symbolic-narrative resources (Çınar &amp; Bender 2007), for the construction and contest of nationalism. Focusing local-urban historiography and commemorative-performative practice (rather than state-centrist discourse), the project probes the entangled symbolic universes comprising political imaginaries, beyond dichotomies such as sacred/secular and traditional/modern (Eickelman &amp; Piscatori 1996). <br/><br/>The present paper presents fieldwork from the cultural-commemorative events organized for the 2022 centenary of the (proto)Turkish conquest of Smyrna. It explores the historiographic narratives and textual/visual/spatial representations of commemorative exhibitions, film-screenings, and architectural projects. Ranging from amnesia to convoluted detail; from dramatic orchestration to meticulous documentation; from sanguine festivity to victimhood, the narratives are guided by affective overtones, yet avoid direct engagement with questions of culpability. In effect, traumatic Smyrna is overwritten with triumphant İzmir: an urban autobiography coextensive with the nascent Republic, symbolic of socio-economic restoration and local-cultural enterprise.}},
  author       = {{Janson, Torsten}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  title        = {{Overwriting Smyrna: Urban Imaginaries in Turkish-Nationalist Commemoration}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}