Research Information System
MILLI FOLKLOR, no.144, pp.5-15, 2024 (AHCI)
In accordance with an interdisciplinary perspective, Arnold van Gennep brings up the problem of social transformation and the associated collectivity through the metaphor of "bovarism" in his article titled "De quelques cas de bovarysme" (On a few cases of bovarysm); he transfers a literary concept to the field of folklore. He explains a common social attitude and some negative consequences it causes through the concept in question. With the example of Liberia, he explains the established habits, beliefs, customs and traditions of the members of a society, in short, a state of discontent that affects their common values and the dream of another place, thus the negativities it creates and the social collapse it causes. He uses a concept which is used to express an individual and a psychological problem to evaluate a collective problem. Madame Bovary is an expression of the conflict between rural/village life and urban life and the negative effects it creates on the individual. The concept of collective bovarism (or social bovarism as appropriate) is used as an expression of a negativity that concerns the whole society or the majority beyond a single individual. The attitude of those who dream of living in another country (reterritorialization) by abandoning their habitat (and all values related to it) in a way and becoming deterritorialized (breaking off from their roots, identity, language, common values), as Gilles Deleuze said, can be characterized as a reflection of collective bovarism. hnthis article, it will be focused on what collective bovarism, as defined by Arnold van Gennep, a psychological (of course, economic, value based) situation that can lead to the destruction of the basic values that determine a society, and even the collapse of the society, is. Through the concept of social bovarism, the real function of a dramatic situation, which may arise if the social values questioned by folklore are resolved by relying on different mediations in a way, is emphaized. hnthis sense, both Arnold van Gennep's example and other examples will be included. Inthe Trait & eacute; comparatif des nationalit & eacute;s (Comparative Handbook of Nations), against collective bovarism, he deconstructs the identity of a nation and defines the components of the collective feeling, the symbols that differentiate a society, a social group from others (tattoo, body pictures, clothing, flag, national colours, house, village). The inference that can be drawn from Arnold van Gennep's analysis under the title of collective bovarism, which describes (traditions, customs, writing, language, local languages, dialects, borders, maps) and defines them as indispensable elements of national identity, is as follows: Collective bovarism is the culture, established values of a society. hnsome respects, it is close to the concept of ethnomasochism with the destruction it causes on people. As defined by Guillaume Faye, the concept refers to a set of psychological attitudes or ideologies that result in the tendency of a particular people or ethnic group to denigrate themselves or their history, culture, and traditions in comparison with those outside their homeland. Ethno-masochism, then, is akin to shame and self- hatred. Arnold van Gennep briefly expresses such a negativity through the Liberians who broke away from their cultural roots and dreamed of another country. hnthis article, we will include both Arnold van Gennep's example and another example. We will briefly evaluate Evrim & Ouml;l & ccedil;er & Ouml;z & uuml;nel's work titled E & scedil;iktekiler, which is about slum life, within the framework of the concept of collective bovarism, in parallel with Arnold van Gennep's conclusions on the concept. hnshort, this article aims to examine the essence of a psycho-folkloric approach to the functional content of folklore from another perspective, and to show what the negative and dramatic consequences can be when the distinctive values of society are set aside by those who risk becoming displaced.