Modern interpretations of the Karagöz Oyunları

Posted on September 14, 2012 by lizcameron

Source: google.com via Liz on Pinterest

While the Karagöz puppets in my head are very much here in modern times, they did originate in the 1300s, in the Ottoman court.  My puppets, however, really live between two worlds – through some sort of wormhole or other time-beding Tardis-enabled reality.  In all seriousness, though, there are a number of modern-day interpretations of the puppets – and today’s post is a set of images of those interpretations.  I hope you will enjoy them!

First, we have the Karagöz Oyunları iPhone app – you can read about that here at my previous blog post…a lovely but not that creative app, unfortunately, not much you can do with it other than see what the puppets say when you touch them in different areas…

Second, we have this lovely image of some of the puppets – where our beloved Karagöz and Hacivad have animal bodies on their lower halves.  I am reminded of satirs and the like, from childhood nighttime stories, usually read in the bath.  We would splash whenever one of those creatures came into the story.  I am not sure if Karagoz stories would be read at bedtime…

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Kenne recommends the nar (pomegranate) cure for our middle-aged tummies

Posted on September 13, 2012 by lizcameron

I awoke today to Kenne’s cluck-clucking “tisk-tisk.”  There she was, on the bedpost, observing us in our sleep.  If you don’t know who Kenne is, she will be shocked, as she is the self-imposed “Queen” of Manners, Etiquette and the Maintenance of Ladylike Behavior and Honor (click here for more info on her madness)
“You both,” she noted with a shrill feathered-swoop, “have too-big tummies for your middle-aged status.  You, m’lady, as the lady of the house, must start feeding your M. more pomegranate juice – not to mention consume some yourself!  You are going to get F-A-T.”
An opened up pomegranate.

An opened up pomegranate. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sighing and turning over, I tried to tune out Kenne and her constant observations about my weight – I find that in people of a certain generation and class – appearances are everything.  Although, I must admit, my students often comment on these things as well.

Can you imagine a classroom of students commenting on your weight? Well, that’s my fate in the classroom.  Last week, two of them asked me if I was pregnant!  M. tells me that there is NO WAY that I look pregnant, even though I am overweight.  It’s enough to re-awaken the whole beach obesity debates in Bodrum that almost led me to don a burquini for the shock factor! Now that I have tenure, I am going to have to come up with some sort of snarky response to stop that train before it leaves the station.  “How would it be,” I could say to them, “if I commented on YOUR weight in front of the classroom?”

As we got up, I found pomegranate-related notes and images across the apartment.  She had clearly been up all night.  Indeed, her trusty-dusty handmaiden, Zenne, the nervous Nellie puppet, known to quiver like a bowl of quince jelly on most occasions, was still asleep after a night’s labor.  I guess it was bad enough to take some heed of the somewhat-snotty, in-our-business puppet’s words – I suppose there is a grain of truth in everything.

Let’s get to peeling pomegranates!

English: A worker preparing fresh pomegranate ...

A worker preparing fresh pomegranate juice from these pomegranate fruits. Photo taken at a market in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Meet the motley crew of Ottoman Turkish puppets

Posted on September 11, 2012 by lizcameron

For those of you just tuning in – or dipping in – to this blog, you might be interested to learn about the little puppets that have moved into my head as I navigate a cross-cultural marriage, but let me back up a bit…

Flannery O’Connor is credited with saying “I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say,” and this is true for me when it comes to figuring out my cross-cultural relationship…

So, this blog documents the ongoing road trip through the cross-cultural marriage of one American woman married to one Turkish man. Just one half of one Turkish-American couple, making sense of what goes on in day-to-day life.

Part of acculturating to my own cross-cultural relationship included getting in touch with the Karagöz shadow puppets that took residence in the back seat of my head (and the car) both Stateside – and in Türkiye.

Karagöz Oyunları, or the particularly Turkish art form of shadow puppetry, is famous for heightening stereotypes and truths about the nature of people, places and things in the way that only puppets can.

Depending on the situation, my Karagöz puppets take on the roles of the yea-sayer, the naysayer, the devil, the angel, the manners expert, the feminist, the religious person, the sloppy drunk and many more…let’s see how they do as relationship coaches!

What better country to use as the foil for a discussion on cross-cultural relationships than Turkey, famous for connecting east and west despite the at-times trite-ness of the metaphor. The Karagöz tradition of heightening stereotypes first noted during Ottoman times is, I hope, an interesting conceit for writing about one couple’s own road trips through Turkey on their quest for the marriage model that fits them – their own merger of east and west, similarities and differences abounding.

This blog is offered in semi-chronological order starting in 2004 and continuing in 2012 and beyond. Although this blog is written by me, it is important to me that readers know that the decision to “go public” with our stories about our cross-cultural relationship was mutual. I try to post weekly.

The major characters (so far) are listed below.  I am forever indebted to them for helping me through my Turkish-American life…

Bebe Ruhi, the Goof with Dwarfism and an Ample Heart

Chorus of Little Dancing Lady Puppets

Celebi, the Modernist Puppet

Dobra and Saf, the Siamese Twin Puppets who Love-Hate Turkey

Esma, the Hippie Puppet

Hacivad, the Inimitable Learned Sufi Elder Puppet

Hacıyatmaz the Roly-Poly Puppet who Always Bounces Back

Karagoz, the Oppositional Trickster Puppet

Kenne, Queen Puppet of Manners and the Maintenance of Honor and Ladylike Behavior

Khadijah, the Handmaiden Puppet Stolen from North Africa by Ottoman Slavers

Mercan Bey, the Spice Trader Puppet from the Arabian Peninsula

Perihan, the Fairy Godmother Goddess Puppet

Safiye Rakkase, the Vainglorious Dancing Girl Puppet

Tiryaki, the Narcoleptic Opium Addict Puppet

Write-a-matrix, the Academic, Whip-Cracking Dominatrix Puppet

Yehuda Rebbe, the Globalized Rabbi Wise Man Puppet

Zenne, the Nervous Nellie Like a Bowl of Rosehip Jelly Puppet

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