The Limits of Westernization by Perin Grel

The Limits of Westernization by Perin Grel

The Limits of Westernization analyzes the complex local uses of the West to explain how the United States could become both the best and the worst in the Turkish political imagination. Gurel traces how ideas about westernization and America have influenced national history writing and policy making, as well as everyday affects and identities.

With sophistication and mastery, Gurel offers an original perspective on how the Turkish elite and public have been refashioning images of America for their own political and social purposes for more than a centuryThe result is an extraordinarily well-written account of the role of culture in the international relations of both Turkey and the United States, allowing us to better grasp and critique the roots of contemporary Turkish and American narratives about identity and politics. -- Cemil Aydin, author of The Politics of Anti-Westernism in Asia: Visions of World Order in Pan-Islamic and Pan-Asian Thought
In The Limits of Westernization, Perin Gürel offers a multifaceted approach to interpreting the complex ways in which the United States has figured in a rapidly changing Turkey, using four key lenses through which to tell this story: political history, literary analysis, a discussion of language and humor, and gender and sexuality studies. Taken as a whole, the book illuminates how during the American century, Turkey and the United States were intertwined in ways much greater and more sophisticated than we knew. -- Brian T. Edwards, author of After the American Century: The Ends of U.S. Culture in the Middle East
Gurel's book is a savvy and nuanced account of the multiple meanings of America and the West in Turkish culture and politics. This is groundbreaking scholarship that uses culture—from novels to jokes to signs held up at protests—to explore how issues such as Westernization, the decline of the Ottoman empire, and US-Turkish relations were imagined in Turkey. Gurel goes beyond showing the love-hate relationship that Turks had had with the United States; she examines how cultural flows across borders created "vernacular transculturation"—spaces of interchange and transformation. The book is at once humorous and erudite, a pleasure to read and to learn from. An outstanding piece of scholarship. -- Melani McAlister, author of Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and US. Interests in the Middle East since 1945
A stimulating interdisciplinary study. -- Turan Cavlan, Cyprus International University, Northern Cyprus * International Affairs *
An innovative, compelling, and much-needed addition to the literature on cultural politics in Turkey. * Diplomatic History *
A well-written and enjoyable example of what an interdisciplinary and skillfully bilingual cultural history can yield. * Journal of Middle East Women's Studies *
Deeply textured and invariably insightful. . . . A must-read in order to comprehend modern Turkey, and I might add, a contemporary America. * Key Reporter *
An engaging introduction to the cross-cultural history of Turkey and the United States... [and] a most welcome addition to cultural studies, gender studies, and Turkish studies literature. -- Ali Açıkgöz * Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association *

Perin E. Gürel is associate professor of American studies and concurrent associate professor of gender studies at the University of Notre Dame.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780231182034
ISBN 10	0231182031
Title	The Limits of Westernization
Author	Perin Gürel
Series	Columbia Studies In International And Global History
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Columbia University Press
Year published	2020-05-26
Number of pages	288
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.