SPACE, CULTURE AND IDENTITY: SOCIAL MEANING OF SPACE AMONG ISPARTA TAHTACIS

Abstract

The problems encountered in today's urban spaces by Tahtacis, who are one of the major building blocks of Anatolian culture, constitute a significant field of discussion. In urban spaces, the historical images of Tahtaci groups that are integrated with rural spaces seem quite far from the descriptions of 'agaceri', 'nomad' or 'semi-nomad'. The new practices of life emerged parallel with the changes which social organisation models of Tahtacis have gone through in terms of time and space require an evaluation of Tahtaci identity and culture within the frame of different forms. This article which is beyond the previous studies concerning Tahtaci groups about ethnicity and religious practices analyses the current social condition of Tahtacis who live in Isparta Turan district in terms of perception of space. Beside the problems that Tahtaci culture and identity have in the transmission of oral culture, the social profiles that appear with the conditions of being entrapped and unavoidably scattered in urban space are the major points of examination. In this study, the new constructions and forms of space, culture and identity relations are scrutinised within a sociological perspective.

Keywords

• Tahtacis
• Agaceris
• Alevis
• Space
• Culture
• Identity