Folklore and Politics in Turkey, Bawdy Jokes, and Linda Degh

I would like to respond to a note published by Linda Dégh in JAF 112:446 (1999). In my original note in JAF I made a couple of points regarding the scholarship of the Walkers. While I was surprised to see a note in reply from Professor Dégh (rather than from the Walkers), I do wish to respond to some of the comments made in her lengthy note.

Dr. Dégh claims that everyone knows that "folklore is politics," but that she feels "it is problematic when for folklorists to get into politics" and that "all fieldworkers should collaborate with those governments that are hosting them." She applies these maxims to my quoting a bawdy joke attributed to Nasreddin Hoca, a centuries-old Turkish humorous figure. To this I would say that I recited the joke to make the point that the data about what was, and what was not, part of the Nasreddin Hoca legend do not change in response to prevailing political winds. While I agree that it is often problematic when folklorists to get into politics, the suggestion that scholars tailor material in the folk opus according to the often rapidly changing political winds in a country such as Turkey seems to me a very dangerous way of playing into politics. While I agree that courtesy to one's hosts, including both individuals and institutions, is a must, I disagree with the requirement that scholars "collaborate" with the governments that are hosting them, as Dr. Dégh suggests. I do not believe that everyone would share her view that such collaboration constitutes being only "neutral." It is not news to any folklorist that governments are intensely aware of the power of folklore and are only too happy to use willing collaborators for their own political ends.

Dr. Dégh also finds my quoting of a joke in which Nasreddin Hoca uses the word penis to be offensive, and likens it to an American scholar speaking of Abraham Lincoln's penis. I find this comparison an odd one, since the joke in question is not about the specific anatomy of Nasreddin Hoca; it only likens a minaret to a penis, that is all. In addition, Nasreddin Hoca is a humorous figure and not an honored statesman of Turkey. I agree with her that sometimes we might want to be more circumspect in a discussion that actually concerned the appendage of such a "politically sacred" figure, who in Turkey would be someone like Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. But to require such reverence when speaking of Nasreddin Hoca, who is a humorist and the butt of so many of his own jokes, takes this concept too far.

As for my criticisms of the Walkers, I wish to make clear that I admire their work in archiving Turkish oral narratives; furthermore, if they have established a good archive, then this is a service to Turkish folklore. But I believe that accuracy in attribution and discussion of these works is very important, and I have genuine concerns about what I believe are some important errors in some of their work. Professor Dégh believes that I am in error when I state that the Walkers did not collect original folktales from Neriman Hizir. I found myself questioning the assertion that they did when I found a text in their book, Tales Alive in Turkey, that they were the first to publish as a folktale, but which had previously been known as a dialogue between the characters Hacivat and Karagoz in a shadow play. At that time, in 1997, I found this puzzling and wrote to Neriman Hiziroglu asking her of the provenance of this folktale. Her letter to me (dated 24 January 1997) states, "Mrs. Walker did not collect stories from me. I helped her collect material on childlore from various sources including schoolchildren, teachers, peasants and even the tapes in the archives of the National Library. In reality, my contribution to Mrs. Walker's work was to give her a rough translation of the Turkish materials she had." I did not make this...