Supernatural beings and figures in Karagöz and Wayang Kulit

This thesis examines the Karagöz shadow play tradition, which exists within the cultural landscape of Turkey, and the Wayang Kulit shadow play tradition, sustained on the island of Java in Indonesia, with a particular focus on supernatural beings. The aim of this study is to identify the points of convergence and divergence between these two traditions.The first chapter focuses on various shadow play traditions around the world and introduces different cultural practices. The second and third chapters specifically focus on the Karagöz and Wayang Kulit traditions, respectively, and provide the reader with detailed background information essential for understanding the main focus of the thesis.The fourth chapter investigates supernatural beings that stand out for their similarities in both Karagöz and Javanese Wayang Kulit traditions, thereby revealing the intersections between the two. The fifth chapter, on the other hand, provides comprehensive information about supernatural beings that do not bear any resemblance to each other in the two traditions. Thanks to this study, the door has been opened to think about the commonalities that different folk cultures can have regardless of the distance between them. The high similarities detected in two very different cultural environments that are quite distant from each other support the theory of development, which suggests that the human mind will think similarly in the face of the same situations all over the world. Thanks to our study, a suitable data set has been presented to the service of the academic community to think about the theory of development.