Bir Sözlü Tarih Çalışması Olarak Feminist Etnografi: Bir Kuşağın Dövmeli [Deq’li] Kadınları
Beyza Huriye TurgutBu çalışmada, kadınların tecrübeleri ile cinsiyetlendirilmiş gerçeklikler bilgisi arasında ‘hangi bağlantıların nasıl aranacağı’ üzerine teori ve pratik, tecrübe ve gerçeklik arasında feminist etnografik metodolojiyle bir tartışma yürütüyorum. Çalışma, Şanlıurfa’nın Hilvan İlçesine bağlı civar köylerde ikamet eden altmış yaş üstü on kadınla, geleneksel Deq (Dövme) hakkında nitel araştırma yöntemini benimsiyor ve derinlikli görüşmeye dayalı ucu açık sorular sorarak katılımcıların mikro-habitatlarında tecrübelerini bugüne taşıyorum: okuma-yazma bilmeyen ve Türkçe konuşamayan kadınları, (“egzotik olarak nesnelleşelebilirlik” ya da “kurbanlaştırıp mağdur öteki” görmek yerine) ‘bilen-özne’ olarak değerlendirip feminist tarih’e not düşürüyorum. Bedeni, biyolojik olduğu kadar kültürel ve politik olduğu kadar imaj bakımından nasıl yorumlandığını, yöredeki kadınlardan dinleyerek yazı’ya aktarıyorum; bu sayede sözün uçuculuğuna karşı, deq’li kadınları tarihe yerleştirmeyi amaçlıyorum. Yörede bir neslin üçüncü ve son kuşağında yer alan deq’li kadınların bedenlerindeki yazıtları, hangi saiklerle yaptıklarını alımlarken, çalışmayı oturttuğum çerçeve, ‘feminist etnografi’dir. Bu çalışma, kadınlara merkezi bir konum tayin ediyor ve özümsediği içgörü ise feminist bakış açısıyla şekilleniyor. Beden, ‘bir öz olarak sadece var olmakla kalmaz, aynı zamanda işlevsel bir hakikatin olduğunu da gösterir’ kaidesince, çalışmanın ufku, ‘feminist bakış açısı’yla “tenin yollarında göçebelik etme”yle çerçeveleniyor. Bu bakış açısı, kadınların tecrübelerine duygusal ve bedensel pratikleriyle eşanlı, bağlamsal düşünülmesi gerektiğine ve kadınların kendi tecrübelerini yine kendilerinin dile getirmesine öncelik veriyor. Ataerkil güce meydan okuyan ve duygusal bir ilişki yaratan kadınlara özgü hikâye anlatımını, sözlü tarihin bir zenginliği olarak yorumluyorum. Buradan hareketle deq, ilksel anlamda kendi-için güzelleşme ve süsleme aracı, bedeni üzerinde tasarruf hakkı, baba otoritesine direniş, farklılık, bir dönemin genel kültürü, akranlarına özenme olarak yorumlanmıştır.
Feminist Ethnography As A Study of Oral History: Tattooed [Deq] Women of a Generation
Beyza Huriye TurgutIn this study, I conduct a discussion using a feminist ethnographic methodology on “what connections should be sought and how” between women’s experiences and gendered realities. The study adopts a qualitative research method involving ten women over the age of sixty living in villages near Hilvan District in Şanlıurfa and focuses on traditional Deq (Tattoo). Through open-ended questions based on in-depth interviews, I bring their past experiences into the present within their micro-habitats. Instead of viewing women who are illiterate and do not speak Turkish as “exotic objects” or “victimised others,” I consider them as “knowing subjects” and make a note in feminist history. I transfer how the body is interpreted not only biologically but also culturally, politically, and in terms of imagery by listening to the women of the region and documenting their narratives. Through this, I preserve the history of women with Deq, countering the fleeting nature of oral traditions. In exploring the motivations behind the inscriptions on the bodies of Deq-bearing women, who belong to the third and final generation of this tradition in the region, the framework of my study is grounded in ‘feminist ethnography’. This workplace places women at the centre and is shaped by insights derived from a feminist perspective. According to the principle that the body “does not merely exist as an essence, but also reveals a functional truth”, the scope of this study is framed by a ‘feminist perspective’, encompassing “nomadic journeys on the pathways of the skin”. This perspective prioritises the need to consider women’s experiences in tandem with their emotional and bodily practises within their specific contexts, emphasising that women should articulate their own experiences. I interpret the storytelling unique to women, which challenges patriarchal power and fosters emotional connections, as a rich resource of oral history. From this standpoint, Deq has been interpreted in its original sense as a means of self-beautification and adornment, claiming ownership over one’s body, resisting the father, expressing difference, a general cultural practise of a certain era, and emulating peers.
In this study, I engage in a feminist ethnographic discussion on tattoos, or Deq as termed in the local Kurdish dialect, focusing on women who are illiterate. I examine the tattooing practises of ten women over the age of 60, who represent the last generation of a tradition in the villages surrounding the Hilvan District of Şanlıurfa, by centring on their subjective experiences. Adopting a qualitative research approach, I ask open-ended questions based on in-depth interviews, bringing the past experiences of these women into the present through a narrative within their micro-habitats.
The participants, who do not speak the country’s official language, Turkish, were all interviewed in their native language, Kurdish. The framework of the study involved conducting interviews with ten women over the age of 60, who represent the last generation of a tradition and are still considered ‘monumental figures’ in the region, guided by a sense of ‘partial identification’ and ‘conscious bias’. My aim is to contribute to women’s history and reinsert the body into historical narratives by filling the gaps left by mainstream history through the oral histories of rural women who do not speak Turkish and are illiterate, focusing on their de experiences.
Framed by feminist ethnographic methodology, this study prioritises a feminist perspective, emphasising that it is the responsibility of women researchers, who share a common ground, to recover and bring to light the everyday practises embedded in women’s subjective experiences from micro-memories to the present. Feminist ethnography seeks to answer the question, “Who is the subject of experience?” As a methodology well-suited for democratising history, feminist ethnography creates “transitional spaces”, inhabiting “the intersections and borderlands of embodied emotions”, and operates on the principle that “the personal is political”. It employs a feminist language dedicated to the future of women, excluding discriminatory and sexist discourse, and shifts focus from the personal to the social and cultural. This adaptable methodology collaborates with oral history and narrative techniques, revealing new gaps in knowledge.
In the Southeastern Anatolia region, tattoos are known by different names: among the Kurdish people, they are called Deq, while among the Arab community, they are referred to as Veşm/Vesm. The person who performs the tattooing is known as a Dekkak, with women being called Dekkake; men who get tattooed are called Medkuk, and women are called Medkuke. The long history of traditional tattooing in Southeastern Anatolia, compared to other regions, is influenced by its socio-cultural and religious context. Although this tradition, involving the use of ash and breast milk to ink the skin, dates back to the 17th century, the first official evidence was discovered in 1991 in the Ötztal Alps on the Austria-Italy border. The preserved body of a man who lived approximately 5,300 years ago, mummified with tattoos, is considered the historical starting point of tattooing. The Iceman Ötzi, who provides insights into the period between the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, has 57 tattoos on his body. These motifs are on or near points corresponding to the acupuncture sites used in modern medicine. According to archaeological, anthropological and historical readings of the Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods, certain symbols have been found on female figures. In the Upper Palaeolithic, around 2500 BCE in Isturitz, a plant symbol was inscribed on a female figure. Similar plant symbols have been discovered on the body of the Çatalhöyük Mother Goddess, as if emerging from her navel, as well as on artefacts from Kalınkaya in Anatolia around 3000 BCE and on female figures from Altıntepe in Turkmenistan around 2400 BCE.
The first sign that led me to undertake this research began with the tattoo on my mother’s hand. When I started talking about Deq, a vivid memory of my great-grandmother’s face, which had appeared blue in my mind since I was around 3 or 4 years old, resurfaced. I realised that the restorative function of memory through dialogue had been triggered here, as my mother also recalled the tattoo on her own mother’s temple when looking at old photographs. The second motivation for the study was to explore why Deq was predominantly chosen by women. By involving my mother in the fieldwork as an ‘intermediary’, I was able to reach ten women over the age of 60 who were second- and third-degree relatives. Since my mother spoke Kurdish better, she initiated the first conversations with the participants. I visited the participants in their micro-habitats, conducting interviews during gatherings at festivals, wedding feasts, funerals, and ‘bride-seeking’ ceremonies, often in settings where more than three women were present.
“The prominent themes related to Deq that emerge while “nomadising on the paths of the skin” include group identity, privacy, sin and shame, healing, feminine performance and the marking of womanhood, being valued as a means of overcoming worthlessness, cultural adaptation, and resistance to the father. The fact that the women in the region are both illiterate and not fluent in Turkish makes it all the more important to document the experiences of these participants, who represent the last tattooed generation, in writing to preserve their stories against the transience of spoken words and thereby leave a record in history. The heteronormative law of patriarchy operates under the same paradigms everywhere, whether in rural or urban settings. However, the primary motivation that I was careful to maintain in this study was to highlight how women use their skin as a space of freedom and to emphasise their position as ‘knowledge-bearing subjects’ within the Deq culture. This awareness, as Maxine Hong Kingston noted (1999), “because when all you have is your voice, the world is fragile”, drives me to document the bodies, patterns, and voices of the women in the region. As an ethical duty, I aim to fulfil my responsibility as someone from within their community, transferring their stories to life through writing.
