Beypazari Houses Within The Context of Traditional Ecological Knowledge


YILMAZ Ş.

MILLI FOLKLOR, no.124, pp.213-229, 2019 (AHCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: Issue: 124
  • Publication Date: 2019
  • Journal Name: MILLI FOLKLOR
  • Journal Indexes: Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Scopus, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
  • Page Numbers: pp.213-229
  • Hacettepe University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Ecology is a field of study that has emerged as one of the sub-research areas of biology. Ecology, which focuses on examining the relationship between all natural beings and their environment, sees nature as a system consisting of harmoniously functioning parts that cannot be considered independent of each other. Culture, on the other hand, is a complex whole that forms the customs, traditions, attitudes and behaviors patterns that the individual and society obtains as a result of their experiences and conveys them to future generations in order to reach the ideal life. The natural environment, then, plays a major role in the realization of all kinds of cultural production. In this sense, ecology has influenced the social sciences that conduct cultural studies from different perspectives. The concept of cultural ecology in social sciences is research areas that study societies' adaptation, evolution, process and verbal, written, material and behavioral productions in this process. Culture maintains all kinds of production it produces within the framework of the traditionally accepted common assumptions. In this context, the approach considered as "traditional ecological knowledge" is all kinds of ideas, discoveries, practices, beliefs and behaviors that societies implement in order to improve the quality of life against all conditions and opportunities of natural environment. Traditional ecological knowledge is therefore an approach to understanding the nature-coordinated cultural creations for folkloristics at the crossroads of social sciences. Traditional ecological knowledge from the perspective of folkloristics is the basic guide of societal worldview or a system of attitudes and behaviors that can be called as folk philosophy or mentality and a constructive, directive and protective interaction. From this perspective, traditional ecological knowledge reveals the causal link between the common attitudes and behaviors of a traditional environment, which is regarded as a community of people who agree to preserve the knowledge they create within themselves. It also has local character. Traditional ecological knowledge is closely related to the research interest of folkloristics, such as folk medicine, folk vet, folk beliefs, folk calendar, folk economy and folk architecture. Traditional architectural knowledge, which has been fixed by trial and error method for many years, is determined and applied according to the geography, climate and material conditions allowed by the ecological environment. The district of Beypazari, chosen as a sampling area, is located in the northwest of Ankara and is suitable for the use of stone, wood, adobe and lime in terms of architectural material. Beypazari has examples with distinctive features of Turkish housing architecture. These houses are not only in terms of materials; in this geography, which is located in an earthquake zone, the measures taken by the traditional construction approach against earthquake are also taken into consideration. Today, while the concrete buildings are destroyed by a slight intensity earthquake, these old buildings, built by the traditional method, stand upright. It is certain that the ecological universe surrounding the local people is also determinant in some practices regarding beliefs. In the construction of some parts of Beypazari houses, the existence of natural environment and beliefs overlapped and enabled some practices to be implemented.