The Dissection of modernity in Turkey: Risk society in Latife Tekin's novels

Latife Tekin has been a subject of research in various fields such as poverty, ecology, and feminism due to her in-depth and consistent portrayal of numerous societal issues in her works. Moreover, the story she constructs regarding nature, poverty, social gender, individual, and society can be considered as a coherent whole. This thesis will suggest that the narrative constructed by Tekin in her works can be contemplated in parallel with Ulrich Beck's risk society theory. In this context, Tekin's novels Sevgili Arsız Ölüm (1983) and Berci Kristin Çöp Masalları (1984) will be comparatively analyzed with Manves City (2018) and Sürüklenme (2018), revealing how the novels mirror the transition from an industrial society to a risk society in line with Beck's theory. While the first two novels tackle society's industrialization and introduction to modernization, the latter two reflect the recent consequences of industrialization and modernization. Throughout the aforementioned novels, Latife Tekin traces ecological, economic, and societal transformations. Similarly, Ulrich Beck emphasizes the ecological and economic transformations as well as individualization in the transition of modern industrial society to a risk society. Therefore, in this study, Tekin's works will be examined in three main sections: ecology, poverty, and individualization, exploring the parallels between the novels and the risk society theory. Additionally, the socio-cultural context provided by Tekin's works will be framed by addressing the situation of Turkey below each section. Through close readings of the texts, the transformations in Turkey from the beginning of industrialization to the present day in ecological, economic, and social aspects will be examined in light of Tekin's novels Sevgili Arsız Ölüm, Berci Kristin Çöp Masalları, Manves City, and Sürüklenme, and the relationship of these transformations with the risk society theory will be questioned.