THE MUSICAL TRACES OF MULTICULTURALISM IN ANTAKYA
Project no. 298 · Status: Kapanmış · 2016
Summary
Although multiculturalism is a phenomenon that is dated back to very old times, it is a highly novel concept in terms of discourse. This concept has a meaning that is associated with the unity of communities from different cultures without any enmity among them. Thus, this concept has a functionality that affirms, centralizes and refers to cultural diversity as opposed to a homogenous cultural structure. Although the expression multiculturalism was initially produced in a political context, it has a capacity that also covers cultural components in its meaning today. Therefore, music, which is a fundamental cultural component, may be discussed within the framework of multiculturalism. In this sense, multiculturalism in the musical context refers to the unity of types of musical cultures that are different from each other within a region. Anatolia is a geography that has always hosted multiculturalism due to its primeval history and cultural structure. However, Antakya is a residential place that has a unique multicultural structure both within and surpassing Anatolia. The multicultural structure of Antakya may be noticed not only in cultural components such as religion, language and food, but also in the context of music. In this manuscript which was prepared in the context of multiculturalism in music, it was aimed to present the relationalities of different cultures in Antakya, how they live together and their interactions. The visual and auditory data that were obtained in the field by utilizing the methods of ethnographic observation and interviews were blended with the data in the literature using a qualitative research method. Hence, this manuscript presents the details and analysis of the ethnographic studies that were conducted within the aforementioned time period. Keywords: Antakya, Cultural Identity, Multiculturalism, Cultural Pluralism, Music.