Investigation of the visuals associated with the national identity in Turkish republic revolution history and kemalism textbooks

Abstract

In this research, images related to national identity were examined in history textbooks. In the first stage, nationalism, the historical course of the Turkish national identity and related literature were examined, and some components of national identity were determined. Various categories related to national identity have been formed from the elements obtained. The data about the categories were collected through document analysis. In the second phase, 8 history textbooks taught in the years 1930-2014 were selected as samples. Content analysis was used in the examination of the mentioned textbooks, and quantitative method was chosen in data analysis. In this context, data obtained by document analysis were analyzed with SPSS 13 statistical program. Chi-square tests, Bonferroni corrections for chi-square tests and graphs were used in the analyzes. The significance level for all analyzes was taken as .05. In the research, it was determined that republic values and revolutions, national struggle and the images related to the founder leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk be a most used in Turkish Republic Revolution History and Kemalism textbooks concerning national identity. In addition, it has been found that the images of national symbols such as homeland maps, flag, parliament, and capital are used too much for the national identity. © 2018 Public Library of Science. All rights reserved.