Ethnopedagogical Analysis of A Taşeli Fairy Tale: A Tale of İyilikle Kötülük

Abstract

Ethnopedagogy is one of the sub-branches of educational science that examines how people educate children with oral history and various cultural products, that has been created over centuries. Fairy tales are one of the most effective tools of ethnopedagogy because they attract children’s attention with extraordinary beings and fantastical situations. These stories influence the life lessons and experiences of children.  In this study, the fairy tale İyilikle Kötülük (Good and Evil) in Ali Berat Alptekin's book "Taşeli Fairy Tales" was analysed from an ethnopedagogical point of view. The study unpacks the underpinning values of the nomadic Turkmens living in Taşeli region. The study higlights the importance of fairytales to educate children with regional cultural values. The book Taşeli Fairy Tales is a study that utilises document and content analysis, as a methodoly to analyse the collection and texts compiled in the districts of Silifke, Bozyazı, Anamur, Gülnar, Aydıncık, Erdemli, Mut in Mersin province; Ermenek in Karaman province and the villages within these districts. The tales told in the Taşeli region of Anatolia reflect the oral history and culture products of the nomadic culture of nomadic Turkmens, also known as yoruks. A qualitative research model was used in this study. Document analysis, as a qualitative research design method was utilised to collect data, which was analyzed with content analysis. The focus of the research study is the fairy tale İyilikle Kötülük in Ali Berat Alptekin's "Taşeli Tales".  After the educational values in the tale were determined, they were presented in the Findings section. In this tale, two abstract concepts such as goodness and evil are personified and given human characteristics. Goodness and evil appear as two different people in the tale, as "Eyinnik" and "Kötünnük", with the dialect of Taşeli region. This tale shows various traces of the cultural life of nomadic Turkmens living in the Taşeli region, as well as the concepts of goodness and evil.  Additionaly, issues such as being fair, patience, humility, unrequited goodness, and ofcourse a tale as old as time, good conquering evil being a prominent theme in the tale.

In this study, the fairy tale “İyilikle Kötülük” (Good and Evil) in Ali Berat Alptekin's book "Taşeli Fairy Tales" was analysed from an ethnopedagogical point of view. The study unpacks the underpinning values of the nomadic Turkmens living in Taşeli region. The study higlights the importance of fairytales to educate children with regional cultural values. The book Taşeli Fairy Tales is a study that utilises document and content analysis, as a methodoly to analyse the collection and texts compiled in the districts of Silifke, Bozyazı, Anamur, Gülnar, Aydıncık, Erdemli, Mut in Mersin province; Ermenek in Karaman province and the villages within these districts. The tales told in the Taşeli region of Anatolia reflect the oral history and culture products of the nomadic culture of nomadic Turkmens, also known as yoruks. A qualitative research model was used in this study. Document analysis, as a qualitative research design method was utilised to collect data, which was analyzed with content analysis. The focus of the research study is the fairy tale "İyilikle Kötülük" in Ali Berat Alptekin's "Taşeli Tales".  After the educational values in the tale were determined, they were presented in the Findings section. In this tale, two abstract concepts such as goodness and evil are personified and given human characteristics. Goodness and evil appear as two different people in the tale, as "Eyinnik" and "Kötünnük", with the dialect of Taşeli region. This tale shows various traces of the cultural life of nomadic Turkmens living in the Taşeli region, as well as the concepts of goodness and evil.  Additionaly, issues such as being fair, the wrongfulness of continually conceeding, humility, unrequited goodness, and ofcourse a tale as old as time, good conquering evil being a prominent theme in the tale.