Folklor/Edebiyat (Nov 2019)
Turkish and American Female Sephardic Children among Turkish Children in the 1950s
Abstract
The aim and scope of this research was to discover the games appreciated by Turkish Sephardic, American Sephardic and Turkish Muslim female children in the 1950s, their environmental teachings, and transnationalism. Old people teach children games, which can also be transnational and narrated in other countries. Oral history interviews were conducted with these three groups of women, and they were asked about the metaphors in their childhood games. These informal chats also led to the discovery of some games played by female children. Similarities of these metaphors were used to suggest a peace building theory based on environmental humanities. Accordingly, the metaphorical concepts in female children’s games were analyzed through the conceptual metaphor theory developed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) for deciphering their environmentalist teachings and their impacts on the formation of children. As the transnational nature of games makes one understand that children would play together regardless of their creed and ethnicity in the 1950s, such games are recommended to be taught to today’s children who rarely play games outside their houses with other children. As a result of this study, it was found that conceptual metaphors based on the protection of the environment were similar in certain games regardless of children’s cultural backgrounds. The conceptual metaphors of “NATURE IS A MOTHER,” “ANIMALS ARE LOVE,” and “NATURE IS A SHELTER” were commonly used in these children’s games, and these similarities should be taught children by encouraging them to recognize and adapt the concept of unity in diversity. Consequently, the crimes committed by children against animals should be prevented, and children should learn the ways to preserve the environment and nature easily without damaging any plants or animals. It is crucial to teach children similar games with similar elements are played in different parts of the world. In these games, similar environmental, educative, and metaphorical objects and word games may also be used.
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