The History of Folklore Department in The Faculty of Language and History-Geography at Ankara University

Abstract

The history of the Folklore Department at the Faculty of Language and HistoryGeography of Ankara University began in 1938 with Pertev Naili Boratav’s lectures on literary folklore. In 1947, Boratav established Turkey’s first folklore department, named “Türk halk Edebiyatı ve Folkloru Kürsüsü” (Turkish Folk Literature and Folklore Department). However, the department was closed in 1948 when Boratav was expelled from the faculty. In 1944, with the appointment of Nermin Erdentuğ as an associate professor of ethnology and the establishment of the Ethnology Department in 1961, the foundation of anthropological folklore studies was laid at the faculty. From 1961 to 1980, Nermin Erdentuğ, Orhan Acıpayamlı, and Sedat Veyis Örnek, at the Ethnology Department, provided vaulable examples of ethnographic studies conducted in the field of folklore. Sedat Veyis Örnek’s seminal book Türk Halkbilimi (1977) and his other publications such as Sivas ve Çevresinde Hayatın Çeşitli Safhalarıyla İlgili Batıl İnançların ve Büyüsel İşlemlerin Etnolojik Tetkiki (1966), Anadolu Folklorunda Ölüm (1971) and Geleneksel Kültürümüzde Çocuk (1979) have been fundamental references in Turkish folklore studies during their time and beyond. With the establisment of the Folklore Department by Sedat Veyis Örnek in 1980, which was continued uninterrupted until today, the field of anthropological folklore studies has become institutionalized in academia in Turkey. In addition to the academics such as Metin And, Hasan Özdemir who work in other departments at the Faculty of Language and History-Geography of Ankara University and contribute to folklore studies, both the students of the department and from various departments who have written theses and produced various folklore texts have enriched the folklore studies at the Faculty. Furthermore, the Folklore Society, established by the students in 1993, has contributed not only to folklore studies but also to the recognition of the department within and outside of the faculty.