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KADIN / WOMAN 2000

 Volume II / Issue 2 - December 2001

Contents
Abstracts

Contents / İçindekiler

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ABSTRACTS


A Biography: An Adamant Defender of ‘Deep Ecology’ and Ecofeminism: Günseli Tamkoç (1921-1998)
Nermin Abadan-Unat
Bogaziçi University

Abstract
This paper is dedicated to the memory of a dear, lifelong friend, Günseli Tamkoç, who until she passed away strived to surpass the socially accepted values, mores and attitudes and fought for the acknowledgement of new concepts such as “deep ecology”, “eco-feminism” and peace movements. Although not interested in large-scale political movements, she progressively became a genuine fighter for local democracy, political participation and networks.

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A Sex-Related Attitude Study in Word Choice: The Case of Turkish Cypriots
Necdet Osam
Eastern Mediterranean University

Abstract
Language is a primary means of communication, however; the language use of individuals differs in many ways. The differences, in fact, can be related to the nature of language as well as to other variables such as educational background, age, power relations, social status and individual peculiarities. In Fasold's (1986) point of view, one of the significant peculiarities of an individual to be specifically taken into consideration in the analysis of language use is the sex variable.

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Women Who Save Their Husbands From Difficult Situations in The Book of Dede Korkut
Şeyma Güngör
İstanbul University

Abstract
`The Book of Dede Korkut` is one of the most important literary works as a means of recognising the status and value of Turkish women in society `The Book of Dede Korkut which consists of twelve epic stories and an introduction, describes several events regarding the experiences of nomadic Oghuz Turks.
The Turks who lived in Central Asia between the IX-XI centuries, created epic-stories preserving the memories of their adventures in earlier ages. Later, these texts were modified and enriched as a result of the cultural effects and events following the migration of the Oghuzs to Azerbaican and Anatolia. These oral stories were transcribed to written form in XV. century with the addition of an introduction so that ` The Book of Dede Korkut` was completed.
The stories which were transmitted from generation to generation, orally, by bards throughout the centuries, include valuable information regarding Turkish social structure, conception of life and the systems of beliefs.
The heroines who appear as active individuals, in society with strong and positive characteristics are also described as women who save their husbands in difficult conditions applying their intelligence, knowledge, devotion and skills in fighting.

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Changing of the role of the Cypriot Women at Residential Exterior Spaces
Mukaddes Faslı
Eastern Mediterranaean University
Uğur Dağlı
Eastern Mediterrranean University

Abstract
Residential exterior spaces are the complimentary elements of the internal living volume and are utilised to meet the sheltering needs of human being. Especially those existing in hot countries offer a variety of opportunities for their users.
Due to the reason that the summer periods are relatively long and hot in Northern Cyprus, residential exterior spaces have had great significance in the life of Cypriot women. Throughout history, these spaces have been designed in conformity with the women activities and necessary opportunities have been provided for women to use these spaces intensively during most of the hours of the day. In recent years, however, due to the emerge of the design considering reduction of input costs, most of the residential exterior spaces which have had great significance in women lives, tend to completely loose their physical, functional and local qualities.
In the light of these approaches, the role of the Cypriot women in the residential exterior spaces in Northern Cyprus is being studied within this scope and in this connection, the exterior space components like door fronts streets, gardens, balconies and the transition spaces are being evaluated in terms of their meanings and uses from the Ottoman Period till today. This study that is made up of two parts, consists of examining the role of the Cypriot women in residential exterior spaces and evaluating a residential exterior spaces oriented questionnaire based research conducted on the women living in multi-storeyed apartments. The data required for this research have been collected through by literature review, conducting questionnaire research and using a random sampling based observation method.

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A Market Place in the Ottoman Empire: Avrat Pazarı and its Surroundings
Burcu ÖZGÜVEN
Beykent University

Abstract
In the Ottoman Empire, the bazaars were considered among the most important places in a city. Here the appearance of people from various levels reflected the pluralistic side of the Ottoman society. On the other hand, bazaar areas, such as Avrat Pazarı (the Women’s Market) in Konya or Bartın were those areas where women also could be present and contributed to the commercial activities. Because Ottoman women’s relationship with the communal spaces remained limited, Avrat Pazarı was an important urban area for the spatial perception of women.
Women’s relationship with the public spaces could be summarized in two aspects: Women who used the space, and women who sponsored the construction of architectural works. The only means of space creation for women in the Classical Period could be by beneficiary facilities, such as a foundation of religious külliyes. Royal women, such as the mother, wives or daughters of the Sultan might initiate a waqf in order to contribute to social life for Allah’s sake. In doing this, they proposed to raise their prestigious status and to be remembered eternally by the pious. These charity works in İstanbul Haseki Complex played an important role. Before its construction there were some waqf works built by other female benefactors, such as Keyci Hatun, Gülbahar Hatun or Gevher Sultan, and probably provided for female users.
Another area for women was the Avrat Pazarı in the district, where the shops or removable desks took place. The bazaar once occupied the former Byzantine Forum of Arcadius, which was a large square on the imperial street, Mese, until the sixteenth century. The Forum also included the Column of Arcadius, where historical war scenes were carved. When the city views from the 15th and 16th centuries are investigated the various transformations, the Forum survived could be perceived. For example, Matrakçı Nasuh’s İstanbul map reflects the architectural development of this part of the capital, depicting the shops and domed buildings next the Arcadius Column.
Although the Avrat Pazarı does not exist today, its remains could be traced up until the 1912s.In the 19th century maps, not only the bazaar area, but also neighboring public and religious buildings, the street pattern and the environment were extant.
To conclude the Haseki district, including the Avrat Pazarı, acquired its urban identity through the architectural works of the benefactors who were mostly women. Through this effort, women founders acquired prestigious status and an immortal name on the one hand, and on the other hand, the district appeared as an area where the public works for women were varied and enriched.

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New Tendencies in Relationship Between the Researchers and Participants in Woman and Gender Studies
Hanife Aliefendioğlu
Eastern Mediterranean University
Mustafa F. Özbilgin
University of Hertfordshire

Abstract
In the 1990s, postmodern-feminist and socialist-feminist writers have started problematising not only the inadequacy of positivist and qualitative approaches to research on gender and sexuality, but also the dynamics of the relationship between research, researcher and the ‘researched’ in these studies. The aim of this article is to discuss the relations between participants and researchers on theoretical and implementative dimensions in the methodology of research about gender, sexuality and sexual orientation. Towards this purpose, some methodological elements that are related with two research projects completed by the authors of the paper will be explored.
The first project that is investigated in this article is on women who sell their own agricultural products in a weekly town market. The research evaluates their reasons for coming to market, the factors that make the market place attractive to them, the socio-economic value of the marketing activity and what kind of public sphere the market place is. In the relationship between researcher and participants, obstacles were overcome because both parties are women, however, the difference in the social status of the researcher and the participants inevitably created a gap between them. The study concluded that in research with women participants and especially in closed/conservative communities where gender segregation of public and private space is evident, it would be almost impossible for a male researcher to gain this level of acceptance.
The second research project investigates opportunities regarding gender in the finance sectors in Britain and Turkey. This project contains comparisons between female and male workers, power and authority differences between researchers and participants. During this research, the second researcher who was male, questioned his position and pros and cons of his study and concluded that his gender was not an obstacle to do this research. Firstly, there were both male and female participants where gender difference between researcher and some participants was inevitable. The fact that the second researcher was young and from outside the country, had different significance for participants from two countries and cultures. When we looked at the relationship between the researchers, it can be concluded that his gender, social status, class and profession had a dynamic but not static effect on the processes, objectives, participants and outcomes of this project.
This paper argues that, during the field study, the gender of participants and researchers play an important role. This is not a static role but a dynamic role shaped by the social and cultural interpretation of gender. In both research projects, their outsider and student status, the researchers’ urban origins, their political views, ages and other socio-economic attributes may have had as much influence on the relationship between them and the participants as their gender.
The responsibility of a social scientist is not to deny or ignore the role of his/her gender in the field, but to assess the direct and indirect impact of his/her gender as well as the participants' gender on the study's steps, methods and conclusions and to try to balance the impact of his/her gender, by upholding the principles of social equality, and of individual rights and liberties.

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