Ethnopedagogical Analysis of Talip Apaydın’s novel Toprağa Basınca

Abstract

Ethnopedagogy is a scientific field that investigates how ethnic groups and nations transfer their material and spiritual knowledge to younger generations by utilizing the accumulation of centuries. As a relatively new discipline compared to other branches of social and educational sciences, research on ethnopedagogy is limited. This study aims to contribute to the developing research on ethnopedagogy and provide guidance for future research. The Village Institutes in Turkey, which were decided to be opened on April 17, 1940 and closed on November 27, 1947, have an important place in the history of Turkish education. These institutes trained thousands of teachers with knowledge in almost every field. Talip Apaydın, who grew up in one of these institutes and was an important writer, generally focused on village life and children in his works like other Village Institute writers. Toprağa Basınca is a children's novel that tells the story of a village teacher and his little brother in a small village in Anatolia. In the study, the novel was analyzed through the lens of ethnopedagogy. Document analysis, a qualitative research method, was used in the study and the findings were analyzed through content analysis. The study analyzed the various aspects of folk culture as portrayed in “Toprağa Basınca”, including children's games and toys, oral culture products such as fairy tales, proverbs and idioms, culinary culture, hospitality and rites of passage (e.g. birth, circumcision, military, marriage, death) and the use of nicknames. These elements are critically analyzed from an ethnopedagogical perspective.