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Tuesday, October 14th, 2008PERSISTENT ITERATION
The knowledge of nationality is gained as soon as one acquires language. In Turkey, in the first five years of grade school education, classes begin with a vow that is repeated every morning, all together by every student to affirm the nationality, the Turkish-ness by saying “Turkum!” (In English: I am Turkish!)
In a military-like ceremony, students repeat their vow after a senior student with great enthusiasm. This is an initianion rite for nationhood. While the meaning of the ritual is yet absent in young minds, the ritual inscribes a permanent mark, a placeholder that will accept further prescriptions of nationhood in the coming years.