Abstract
Cultural Layering in Turkish Shadow Play: An Ethno-Archaeological Reading Attempt of the Hacivat-Karagoz Typology in the Context of Hurro-Hittite Iconography and the Antep "Haneg" Tradition
Although Karagoz is recognized as a Turkish Shadow Play spectacle, various proposals have been made regarding its origins. In his comprehensive study, And compiled the characters of the play, its dialogue and satirical repertoire, and its iconographic features, detailing its historical development as a folk spectacle of the Turkish people, yet he linked its origins to Egypt during the Ayyubid period, outside of Anatolia. Its popularity during the Yavuz era, its ahistorical iconographic features, and its transformation into a court entertainment through the conquest of Egypt have facilitated the perception of this spectacle as having been "imported" from abroad. Additionally, its connections to Greco-Roman cultures and the mimus—a coarse folk comedy art widespread in Cappadocia—have also been discussed. However, the Hacivat-Karagöz typology, whether in shadow play or “orta oyunu” format, appears to reference a local background through its iconography, forms of banter, language, verbal expressions, figurative art, and styles of Haneg-making. Furthermore, the play's material, production technique, painting style, and the tradition of backstage light projection lead us to distant lands, such as the Far East of China and Malaysia. In this context, the sole culture capable of uniting Anatolia's prehistoric iconography with Far Eastern play art must be the Turkish culture, which originated from the base of the Great Wall of China and settled in Anatolia as its homeland. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the Karagoz Shadow Play from an archaeological perspective in relation to these two distant pasts and to elucidate the historical trajectory of this synthesis. To undertake this challenging journey, this study employs archaeological, anthropological, ancient languages, and ethno-archaeological methods. Cultural layering is not merely a vertical, temporal stratigraphy, but also a process of entanglement in the horizontal plane, involving remembrance and the carrying of the other within, where different subjects and objects are in constant interaction. Accordingly, this study will also discuss the Hacivat-Karagöz spectacle's past and present within the context of this entangled relationality and interaction process.
Keywords
Hacivat-Karagoz, Spectacle Play, Hittite Orthostats, Festival, Haneg, Humor, Iconography