In 1909, US courts set out to decide whether a Turkish citizen shall be naturalised as a white person. Turkish elites had already undertaken to portray the Turks as the historic source of Western civilization, white racial stock, and human language. Examining this interaction between global racial discourses and local responses, Ergin recentres Turkish modernisation on imaginings of race.
About the book
In 1909, US courts set out to decide whether a Turkish citizen shall be naturalised as a white person. Turkish elites had already undertaken to portray the Turks as the historic source of Western civilization, white racial stock, and human language. Examining this interaction between global racial discourses and local responses, Ergin recentres Turkish modernisation on imaginings of race.