The intergenerational transfer of tarhana as a cultural heritage through traditional ecological knowledge: The example of Kemalpasa
Project no. 20760 · Status: Kapanmış · 2019
Summary
It has become much difficult for societies to preserve and maintain their cultural heritage against the globalization as days pass. Particularly, the intangible cultural heritage, which expresses the experiences and accumulation contained in the verbal cultural memory of humanity, is also very important for the continuity of society. Just as the culture, the intangible cultural heritage changes and develops over time as well, and is transferred to new generations by enriching. However, there are quite a lot of intangible cultural heritage elements under threat due to globalization and cultural homogenization. Oral and intangible cultural heritage is defined as a vital part of cultural identity by international authorities. The preservation of cultural diversity is also considered accordingly. In this sense, tarhana (soup), which is a part of Turkish food culture, has come up till today as a result of transferring oral and practical experiences among generations. However, due to urbanization and globalization in the transfer process, it is presumed that the traditional ecological knowledge of tarhana may be lost. Traditional ecological knowledge, which refers to a sum of experiences that arise as a result of people's coexistence over centuries, covers a wide accumulation from rituals to forms of practice, from oral expression patterns to body language. The aim of this study is to determine how tarhana has been transferred among generations, from the past to the present, and to reveal how various socio-cultural and demographic variables affected the transfer, as well as to evaluate the elements that will prevent the possible interruption of the future transmission of this traditional ecological knowledge.