How Did ‘Turkish’ Psychology Become the Mainstream? A Discourse Analysis on the Trajectory of Its Colonial Legacy

Abstract

Apart from a few studies after 2000, Kurds and Kurdishness are almost absent in psychology studies in Turkey. In this chapter, we argue that a domestic colonial mentality lies behind such a systematic denial that has eventually led psychology in Turkey to transform into a 'Turkish' psychology by systematically excluding various groups (i.e., Others) for the sake of the national progress principle of Turkish modernisation. We employ a decolonial approach (i.e., denaturalisation) to reveal the ruptures and continuities of colonial dichotomies via representations of Self (i.e., in-group) and Others (i.e., out-group) in psychology texts across the 20 th century by subjecting selected works of influential psychologists to discourse analysis.We found that while the 'Turkish' Self was re-constructed via Dominant, Progressive and Modern, various Others were re-constructed via Masses and Outdated interpretative repertoires across selected materials and time. As a first attempt to show a domestic colonial mentality pierced into various stages of psychological knowledge production in Turkey, our findings contribute to the critical psychology literature and open doors for further research on the scope and manifestation of coloniality in 'Turkish' psychology.