Abstract:

Anatolianism is an intellectual movement that was born during the depression period of the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the 20th century and continued its influence with the Republic. It influenced the literature of philosophy, sociology, history and geography, especially literature. The present study was carried out in an attempt to identify the Anatolian geographical literature and its basic characteristics that emerged along with this intellectual movement between 1920 and 1940. The study is significant in terms of exemplifying the impact of cultural, philosophical and political intellectual movements on the development of geographical literature in Turkey. Accordingly, answers to the following questions were sought: What is the place and role of geographical knowledge within the framework of the Anatolian movement? Has the geographical literature, which was generated within the framework of this movement, made any contribution to the geographical literature of Turkey in terms of information and approach? Examples of Anatolian geographical literature published individually or through the publishing organs of the Anatolianism movement were subjected to content analysis on the basis of common concepts (geographical and ideological), the pattern of concepts, the levels of geographical knowledge in academic sense, and spatial scales. The space-oriented approach of the Anatolian movement, that is, its acceptance of Anatolia as an organizer of social values, is instrumental in the emergence of Anatolian geographical literature. With the writing of Anatolian geography on a scientific basis, it was intended to create an infrastructure for the recognition and development of the idle homeland. Since the geographical literature based on Anatolia constitutes the first examples of the studies on the geography of Turkey (especially books), we believe that it will contribute to the development of Anatolian-Turkish monograph studies. We are of the opinion that Anatolian geographical literature cannot be limited to the examples given here and it will expand over time thanks to the recognition of the geographical literature of the late 19th century Ottoman and early Republican period.

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