Course Code and Title: SOS 645-Rural Social Structures
Course Type: Elective
Course Level: Masters
Year and Semester: Autumn/Spring
Course Length: One semester
Prerequisite(s): None
Language of Instruction: Turkish
Course Credits: 3 0 3
ECTS Credits: 7
Lecturer: Dr. Abdulkerim Sönmez
Course Contents: The course is organized in two parts. The first part starts with an examination of the historical process leading to the formation of a peasant economy and society and its links with the process of state formation and the development of division of labour. This is followed by an examination of how the peasant societies were forced to shift from subsistence to commodity production in various ways to modernity and what consequences these had for the internal structure of peasant communities and the wider structures into which such communities were integrated. Within this general framework, the second part deals with the case of Turkey. Here particular attention is paid to the Ottoman policy of creating a peasantry out of nomadic tribes and hence a traditional state based on peasant economy, the formation and development of the Ottoman land regime, the process of transition from subsistence to commodity production, and state policies aiming at the structural transformation of peasant economy in the republican period.
Course Objectives: On completion of this course, the students develop their grasp of the social, cultural and economic aspects of rural populations and peasantry, develop interest in research and policy issues concerning the process and consequences of rural transformations in connection with economy, culture and polity in contemporary societies, and make a critical assessment of rural-agricultural development policies and projects.
Teaching Method: Lectures and classroom discussions.
Assessment Method: Written exam (60 %) and assignmet (40 %).
Reading List:
Aydın, Zülküf. (1990) “Household Production and Capitalism: A Case Study of Southern Turkey” in The Rural Middle East: Peasant Lives and Modes of Production. (eds. Kathy and Pandeli Glavanis), London and New Jersey: Birzeit University and Zed Books Ltd.
İslamoğlu-İnan, Huricihan. (1991) Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda Devlet ve Köylü, İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları.
Karpat, Kemal H. (2003/1976) Türkiye’de Toplumsal Dönüşüm. Kırsal Göç, Gecekondu ve Kentleşme, (trans.by Abdulkerim Sönmez), Ankara: İmge Kitabevi.
Lindner, Rudi Paul. (2000/1983) Ortaçağ Anadolu’sunda Göçebeler ve Osmanlılar, (trans.by Müfit Günay), Ankara: İmge Kitabevi.
Margulies, Ronnie and Yıldızoğlu, Ergin. (1990) “Tarımsal Değişim.” Geçiş Sürecinde Türkiye,.(eds. Irvin Cemil Schick ve Ertuğrul Ahmet Tonak) İstanbul: Belge Yayınları.
Pamuk, Şevket ve Toprak, Zafer (eds.) (1988) Türkiye’de Tarımsal Yapılar (1923-2000), Ankara: Yurt Yayınları ve Türk Sosyal Bilimler Derneği. (Selected chapters)
Shanin, Teodor (ed.) (1987) Peasants and Peasant Societies, (2nd ed.) Penguin Books.
Sönmez, Abdulkerim (2000) “Aile Dayanışması ve Kırsal Ekonomi: Orta Karadeniz Bölgesinde Fındık Üretimiyle Baylantılı Aile Dayanışması Üzerine Niteliksel Bir İnceleme” Hacettepe Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 17 (1): 61-80.
Stirling, Paul. (1990) Culture and Economy. Changes in Turkish Villages, Cambridgeshire: The Eoten Press.
Toplum ve Bilim, No. 88.
Wolf, Eric R. (2000/1966). Köylüler, (trans.by Abdulkerim Sönmez), Ankara: İmge Kitabevi.