Reflections on Oral History: Four Cities on the Social History of Telephone Technology in Turkey

摘要

ThroughoutthehistoryoftheTurkishRepublic,thetelephonehascollectivelybeenperceivedasatechnologyofmodernity,progress,wealthandculturalcapital.Yetduetoadeterioratedinfrastructure,whichhashinderedpenetrationofthetelephonetotheentirecountry,onlyasmallsegmentofsocietywasabletoinstallatelephoneintheirprivatedwellingsaswellasintheirplaceofbusiness.Thisarticlediscussestheresultsofanoralhistoryresearch,basedonin-depthinterviewswithtelephoneusers(andnon-users)inIstanbul,Ankara,KayseriandDiyarbakir,conductedduring2011–2012.Essentially,thisarticleargues,thattechnologytransferdoesnotnecessarilytranslateitselfintomodesofsociallifeasmodernity,atleastnotuniformlyso.Onthecontrary,ouroralhistorystudydisplaysavarietyof“modernities”,whichexistedsidebyside.