On the pursuit of a nation: The construction of folk and folk music in the founding decades of the Turkish Republic

This paper largely investigates the dynamics of cultural policy in the founding years of the Turkish Republic (1923-1940s) by looking at a particular cultural form, Turkish folk music. The reconstruction of Turkish folk music and the development of the term 'folk' reflect certain cultural and political aspects of the formation of the nation-state and of Turkish nationalism. The paper also attempts to understand the inspirational sources of the founding cadres' cultural policy by looking at the genealogy of the term 'folk'(in Romantic thought and during the Enlightenment period) and their folk discourse