Women's cultural representation in Türkiye's museums : histories, narratives, and practices
NUOVA RIVISTA STORICA, cilt.110, sa.2, ss.269-296, 2026 (AHCI, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 110 Sayı: 2
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.32604/nrs.2026.081057
- Dergi Adı: NUOVA RIVISTA STORICA
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Scopus, Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Historical Abstracts, MLA - Modern Language Association Database, DIALNET, MLA International Bibliography
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.269-296
- Ankara Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
This study examines the representation of women’s culture in museums in Türkiye through a historical and analytical perspective, focusing on how women’s experiences, contributions, and identities have been interpreted and institutionalized within museum narratives. While feminist museology has significantly reshaped debates on gender representation in Western museum contexts, the trajectories of women’s cultural representation in non-Western settings remain less explored. Addressing this gap, the study analyzes how women’s presence has been constructed within Turkish museum practices and how women’s museums have emerged as alternative spaces of cultural memory. Adopting a qualitative and historically informed research design, the study is based on interpretive document analysis of exhibition texts, institutional publications, museum catalogues, policy documents, and academic literature addressing gender representation in museums. The findings reveal three dominant patterns in the representation of women in Turkish museums: symbolic inclusion within folkloric and domestic narratives, limited visibility within canonical museum collections, and the emergence of women’s museums as institutional spaces that challenge androcentric heritage narratives. The study demonstrates that while women’s representation in Turkish museums has expanded over time, structural inequalities in curatorial frameworks and collection policies continue to shape gendered narratives. By situating the Turkish case within broader feminist museological debates, the article contributes to museum and gender studies by providing a context-specific analysis of how museums participate in the construction of gendered cultural memory and by highlighting the need for sustained gender-sensitive curatorial practices.
KEYWORDS
Women museums; feminist museology; narrative; inclusion; memory