PATRIOTISM EDUCATION IN SELIM SIRRI TARCAN'S UNDERSTANDING: LEARNING GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

Abstract

Although the homeland and patriotism are mostly considered as the concepts of the 19th century, the fact that we are in the era of the national states still keeps these concepts among the main priorities of the education systems. In the current study, the homeland and the patriotism understanding of Selim Sırrı Tarcan, who was one of the important educators of the Ottoman and Turkish Republic periods, was examined based on the concepts of the homeland and the patriotism. The research design is the document research. In the data analysis of the research, document analysis method was used. Descriptive analysis was used in the analysis of the documents to be mentioned. In this context, the articles written by Selim Sırrı Tarcan as "Genç derneklerinde terbiye-i ahlakiye (about the decency of morality in the youth associations", "Vatanın ruhaniyeti (about the spirituality of the homeland)" and "Maddi ve manevi vatan (about tangible and spiritual homeland)" were examined. At the end of the research, it was seen that Selim Sırrı Tarcan handled the concept of the homeland as small and large homeland. According to Selim Sırrı, it is the deceased ancestors who gave the spirit to the homeland. Again, Selim Sırrı divided the homeland conceptually into two as tangible and spiritual homeland. The history is the soul of the homeland, and the geography is its tangible body. According to this understanding, the way to love the tangible homeland is possible by learning the geography; and the way to love the spiritual homeland is possible by learning the history. On the other hand, it was understood in the study that Selim Sırrı Tarcan conveyed the academic views of intellectuals such as Ziya Gökalp and Ömer Seyfettin to children in a pedagogical manner.