İstanbul'da tango deneyimi: Toplumsal cinsiyet perspektifinden bir değerlendirme

This dissertation is about figuring out the idea of `gender? among tango dancers in Istanbul. Specifically, how individuals move in and out of the female and male roles in tango; the interpretation of these roles and the motivating factors beyond to tailoring of these roles were subject to search. I started with the assumption that in tango women voluntarily accept a role of the obedience to man that they work to avoid in their regular life. Whereas men gain legitimation for the sovereignty of leading a woman that they felt obliged to leave so that they are not labeled as macho. In order to evaluate my assumption, I used participant observation and heuristic research methods. Besides, I applied to in-depth interviews for deep probing of thoughts and feelings of tango dancers. The findings were interpreted by using discourse analysis. Theoretically, I got benefit of studies made in dance history, the relationship between dance and cultural studies, body, and gender. Also, I gave place to researches concerning tango: both its history worldwide, in Turkey and its structure. Tango is a gendered dance. In fact, doing tango is performing gender roles itself. Likewise a person who personates a `woman? or `man? by choosing some already determined features that fit with her alleged gender as `performative gender theory? suggests; tango dancers also choose and wear on roles that are presented to them in the name of being `leader? or `follower?. According to research findings, I could say that performing gender roles in tango became a measure of success. Dancers feel satisfied to the degree they reply the requirements of these roles. In the adaptation phase, there could be some difficulties. However, when they learn to express themselves in the tango language, they try their best in order to fit to these tailored roles. Keywords:Tango, Istanbul, Turkey, Argentina, Buenos Aires, Dance, Social Dance, Sex, Gender, Roles in Dance