Page - 115 - in Limina - Grazer theologische Perspektiven, Volume 2:1

115 | www.limina-graz.eu hande Birkalan-Gedik | muslim | martyr | masculine ducers of boundaries, and transmitters of cultural values to children. Nira Yuval-Davis and Floya Anthias stressed that the idea of a nation is virtu- ally masculine. Very rarely are women represented as symbolic signifiers of difference and active fighters in nationalist struggles (Yuval-Davis/An- thias 1989, 7–8). In her often-cited book, Bananas, Beaches, and Bases, the well-known feminist scholar Cynthia Enloe seconded what Yuval-Davis and Anthias had already put forth, underlining that “nationalism has typi- cally sprung from masculinized memory, masculinized humiliation, and masculinized hope” (Enloe 1990, 45). Finally, Joan Nagel’s words can shed light on nationalism being a masculine project, in which men are conceived as real actors to defend their freedom, their homeland, and their women [emphases are mine]: “By definition, nationalism is political and closely linked to the state and its institutions. Like the military, most state institutions have been his- torically and remain dominated by men. It is therefore no surprise that the culture and ideology of hegemonic masculinity go hand in hand with the culture and ideology of hegemonic nationalism. Masculinity and nationalism articulate well with one another, and the modern form of Western masculinity emerged at about the same time and place as mod- ern nationalism” (Nagel 1998, 249). Along with the proclamations above, the Turkish nationalism presents a strong sense of masculinity enmeshed with militarism, be that of the secu- lar or religious variety. As it is, the well-construed narrative of militarism and nationalism has been around since the founding days of the Turkish Republic, which sustained men as fighters and celebrated the dead men as martyrs as they sacrificed their bodies for the freedom of their nation, to evoke Nagel’s assertions on nationalism. Certainly, women who participated—mostly in the Turkish War of Inde- pendence—have been praised mainly as a part of “equality” discourses and were presented, as they “took part in war next to men.” Their participation was framed in familial discourses—as mothers, and wives. This is not to say that there were no women who defended the nation, but hegemonic masculinist ideology has subsumed their presence in the Turkish nation- alist narratives. In other words, women were not shown as “signifiers of difference and active fighters in nationalist struggles” as Nagel has argued In nationalism, men are conceived to defend their freedom, their homeland, and their women.