This book was written by Carol Delaney and was published in 1991. The book is highly persuasive because of the highlighted problems focused on by the author in Turkish society. Since the author has spent almost three to four years in pure Turkish society conducting her original anthropological fieldwork, this book was composed with excellent authenticity and a real view of Turkish society.
The most highlighted issue was gender, while work and religion were discussed as the supporting problems caused because of gender differences. Men are illustrated as the category who can sacrifice for women as they are the most important species of society. The people of Turkey have considered women as the most precious asset as land. The author has chosen the writing style as metaphoric style, which could be exemplified by the title of the book. Islam is a religion that is not observed very commonly in regular Turkish practices, but the norms, moral values, and ethics of the society are formed completely according to it. Islam has placed an aspect for women as caregivers only but not life givers at all. Furthermore, the main aim of the paper is to discuss the gender and importance of women along with Turkish cultural and religious influence on gender differences.
The author’s overall composition of the book could be considered as close to perfection. There are a number of things that would let the reader consider it for future use. One of the most enthralling elements of the book is the plot in which it is being composed. The structure of the book is highly appreciated, and its flow can be emphasized. The author took extra care of the presentation of the content. All the events are presented in the form of continuity. At the very start, the book explains everything from scratch, which is highly helpful for developing the understanding of the reader. Later on, the complexities are defined, and they are connected with the main idea. Taking care of the imagination and building the illustration of readers is highly difficult, but the author in this book has proficiently taken extra care of it. Even the naïve reader of Turkish society can imagine properly the kind of society and the hail of the characters.
After the discussion of the presentation, now comes religion. The author has very beautifully discussed Islam and resided the attention from culture to the religion in which she represented it as a valued religion with a number of good and highly energetic adventurous discussions. Islam is presented as a positively beautiful religion whose origins are explained as the seeds that were grown into a strong tree with very good and highly perceptive. Every event is defined in one chapter, and one event is composed of a number of small events connected to one another. The book presented the true explanation of the clear necessities of all the factors that existed in society. These factors can be reality-based or imaginary.
The highly persuasive point that could be found in the general overview of the book is that the religion, Islam, is presented as a complete one without a single missing portion. Islam is the only religion that was widely spread in all parts of the world and has faced the highest levels of criticism than any other religion or topic. The hundreds of years of continuous criticism caused the building society with completely contrasting sentiments. The book clarified the beliefs and faith of the Muslims and maintained their identity. These concepts highly attracted me, and I was unable to put them down. Every sentence was complete, and every concept had a higher level of appeal to be accepted. I can personally admire Carol Delaney’s writing style as she left no stone unturned to express her acquaintance with the religious concerns in Turkish society. I have read a number of books related to this topic, but her method of elucidation was creative and aligned with human nature.
The concept of proliferation and procreation was also a vital characteristic of the book as it upheld the individuality of the book and separated it from other books related to the same subject. Miss Delaney has worked on the proliferation, which is presented in the book with the help of many classifications of propagation. The village, which is discussed in the book, has expressed procreation as a basic analog of humans as a divine creation. Since the definitions are related to the origin of the religion and the past of society, they cannot be considered the same as the current society. An outnumbered discussion about procreation in the book makes it an investigating tool for the understanding of procreating from history. The book tried to express that procreation in the religion could not be considered as all about sex but a holy action that is used against the concepts of sexual exploitation. There are many considerations of the ideas that make the overall book more exciting and, at the same time, more challenging for readers in society.
The writer has also called the reader’s considerations for understanding and evaluating the cultural practices of the Turkish people with respect to the welcoming of visitors, which is considered as a way to promote unity. Moreover, Turkish weddings are also widely explained in the book, with the addition of relations among relatives, societal values, and beliefs that exist peacefully. There are some cultural issues that are discussed in the book; for example, water is associated with the process of intercourse and a sense of obedience in the process of procreation. This idea is discussed in the chapter on knowledge. As in the body of this chapter, this concern is presented in the form of a lubrication item in the gender disparity. The female seed is not considered as valuable as the male one in a number of ways. The feminine seed is only considered for the fulfillment of purpose but is highly inconsiderable for the promotion of the movement or change in society. This act shows that the women are much inferior to comparatively the men or masculine seed. The seeds are used by the author as a metaphor for the clarification of the concept of procreation as well as the significance of the deep and diverse analysis of gender. An apprentice reader could only understand the text as a focus on the gender problem and its relation to society’s procreation features.
The relatives and friends chapter enlightened the concept of unity as well as the sharing in the Turkish village under consideration. Men used to visit one another to have discussions about social, political, and business matters in each other’s tearooms. In family time, all members of the family sit together to watch television and discuss matters of life, which shows a sign of togetherness. One of the most exciting and amazing discussions in the book about the family is that they always respect the visitors. In the presence of the visitors, the family’s tone of discussing things changes, and they formally treat everything. The women are highly encouraged to participate in the discussions. The other villages didn’t prefer the women’s interference in the conversation as the men were supposed to discuss only serious matters. It can be observed from the book that the cultural aspect was highly unpolished, and interestingly, the Turkish residents highly preferred to practice it, as discussed above.
It is highlighted in the book that the spouse relationship is highly social in the village. It collectively counted among different psychological concepts, which included the husband and wife displaying affection for each other, having sound humor but also keeping a keen distance, and having strong companionship. It neither disturbs the relationship as it happens in the West nor creates suffrage among women and men collectively, as it is observed in many parts of Asia and Africa. Society has great tolerance, and people don’t stop showing emotion in front of them. The best example quoted in the book is of Ayse and Durmus. Both showed great affection and love in front of the public, but they didn’t find any awkward response at all. The concept of companionship is highly practiced in Turkish society as it is a way of gaining strength, courage, and valor. The author shared her experience of watching a documentary composed and released in the 1970s, which was clearly about Abrahim’s story. The end of the book discusses Ibrahim’s story as God asks Ibrahim to Kurban his son, Ismail. There a little negligence’s that is made by the author, which is that the Prophet Ismail’s mother is Hajer rather than Sarah, so it’s better not to build faith in the fictional books as the author should be considered as a human, and mistakes can happen. In Turkish culture, the men are supposed to do the Adak, and the women are strictly not allowed to perform this activity.
The book is the perfect composition of the events that were observed in the past as well as are currently happening. With respect to cultural belied, society is complete in all respects, including the norms and ethics, gender, family, culture, and religion. The book has simplified all the problems by identifying and explaining them in detail with the examples men and women are currently facing in society. The religious predispositions with respect to the issues faced and the treatment of the people from some religions show the core aspects of procreation in society. There are very tiny assumptions in the book about atheism and Hinduism, but Islam is considered the universal religion, which provides insight into the overall society. Through this book, I have learned more about Turkey in detail than from anywhere else. There are different villages that believe in different kinds of traditional and personal accounts of procreation. Since the author has very good knowledge of ethnography, the book was completed with very good ethnographical details about Turkey, leading to the exciting encounters that are experienced while reading it.
I have a passion of learning about the culture for which I have selected the studying the Turkish traditions and culture, I must admire this book and its author for such a good composition. There are many aspects of life highlighted in the book, which include the impact of Islam, themes of family, village life, traditional influence, and social differences. After finishing the book, I was used to reading the book many times as it included some of the best and most illustrative content according to the social spheres of morality. The chapter that I liked the most was The Body of Knowledge. This chapter included all the aspects of life. Most of the discussion was interesting to the youth in the society, and it was highly informative about Turkish norms and society.
The author has managed to use clear and to-the-point explanations, which helped the readers overcome the distraction factor while reading the book. Most writers shy away and sensor the real discussion about gender and some related topics, but this book has clarity in everything, and no ambiguity is found. Since gender is highly discussed at the start of the book, it is an example of Turkish society’s response to such international topics. I was appealed by the headings, which were about the discussion of the in-depth knowledge of the society; therefore, it should be read by the current generation as well as afterward.
The book included a real and detailed discussion of the problems in society. Approximately all the different societal issues discussed in the book were a reflection of personal as well as family lives. The book also has a very good choice of words, which would be helpful in writing careers. It extends the freedom of choice of words, which presents the ideology that is intended for society. The book shows a society where Muslims have a voice and value in societal changes. That’s why it can be concluded that “The Seed and Soil: Gender and Cosmology in Turkish Village Society” is a very good book and has included a number of insights about the detailed knowledge of the Turkish lifestyle and the norms practiced in the past.
References
Delaney, C. (1991). The seed and the soil: Gender and cosmology in Turkish village society (Vol. 11). Univ of California Press.
