To Whom Does the Natural Come Naturally? Neoliberal Ideals of Motherhood in Turkey
[Thesis]
Tanir, Canan
Roth, Benita
State University of New York at Binghamton
2020
179 p.
Ph.D.
State University of New York at Binghamton
2020
The main purpose of this study is to comprehend the links between the increasingly conservative neoliberal context of Turkey and the motivations that lead to a remarkable surge in practices of "naturalist mothering". Based on the data collected from in-depth interviews, what I call "naturalist mothering" in this work involves the precedence of natural delivery at birth, long-term breastfeeding, natural/organic nutrition, eco-conscious living (toxicity free, clean and natural household products), and a distrust for medical authorities along with an anti-vaccination attitude and propensity to use naturopathy/ homeopathy instead. In the context of this study, it signifies how the overall narrative of a new "ideal motherhood" is constructed through the advocacy of the "natural" as well. Throughout the chapters, I examine the historically contingent ideological components of this new ideal model by delving into what "natural" signifies under the current context, and how naturalist mothering, as a gendered and class-based response to the neoliberal order, ends up reiterating the existing inequalities under neoliberal governance. In arguing that naturalist mothering in Turkey is both a reiteration of and a response to the existing structural problems, my objective is to redefine the main questions in the field of motherhood to integrate an understanding of the contemporary material lives of mothers in the age of advancing neoliberalism, while at the same time providing further evidence for the growing global debate around health and wellness practices of affluent groups outside of the Euro-American context. While I highlight yet another way that the symbiotic relationship between neoliberalism and conservative morality transpires through quotidian practices, the empirical basis of my research also attests to the urgency of a reformulation of neoliberalism as a necessarily gendered ideology as well.