Üsküdar University Rector Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör is now at 12Punto with her articles… Güngör, who reaches a wide readership with her articles and is followed with interest, will now write articles for 12punto, which meets readers with its slogan of impartial, independent, principled.
Prof. Dr. Güngör's first article, which draws attention to issues in education, art, culture, and social fields and has trained numerous individuals in communication to date, has been published. In her article titled “A Woman's Struggle for Freedom,” Güngör examines art, artists, and women through Celile, the mother of the great poet Nazım Hikmet.
Here is Güngör's article…
“Celile: A One-Woman Play.
With her captivating stage performance, Ayşegül Yalçıner brings Celile Hikmet's struggle with life to life down to her bones. Such a strong woman, who sacrificed her entire life for the liberation of her emotional world, could only be represented by such a successful artist.
Celile, the mother of the great poet Nazım Hikmet. A woman who influenced those around her not only with her beauty but also with her intellectual side and artistic talent. She was born into a wealthy family, raised with care, and married into another wealthy family.
Celile had a rather magnificent life according to the conditions of her time. As the saying goes, she had everything she wanted. A wealthy, strong, and charismatic husband, three beautiful children, maids, governesses, a European lifestyle, etc. What more could a person want, what more could a woman want? Celile was carefully educated. She received a good literary education, foreign language training, but most importantly, advanced art education.
One day, Celile Hikmet would become one of Turkey's internationally renowned painters. But with all this wealth and comfort, what was Celile's trouble? Why do you think she filled her entire life with sorrow and tears?
Why sorrow when there was the peace of a comfortable life? I don't know about you, but I believe that art is the primary culprit for all that happened. At its core, art is rebellion. Art has no tolerance for the status quo. Art doesn't like comfort either. Art is a production energy that comes from within a person in every situation and condition. Instead of enjoying life by benefiting from the blessings of the world he lives in, the artist creates art with the dream of reaching more humane worlds beyond the one he lives in. Therefore, art is humanity's struggle tool for humanity, and the artist is the actor who uses this tool.
The artist's individual expressions and cries are, in fact, for all humanity. This is precisely why Celile's cries still pierce our hearts today, and her tears still wet our cheeks. One feels like getting angry at Yahya Kemal for abandoning her love, but then we say he was a great poet, he must have had his reasons, and we return to the story of the woman who buried her love in her heart and continued her struggle for life. Celile's struggle is not a simple wave of love; it is a battle far beyond that. With the questioning and critical perspective bestowed upon her by her artistic personality, she interrogates life and humanity in all its aspects, making a choice based on the belief that being human requires living differently.
To accept and continue, or to oppose and struggle. At this point, Celile makes her choice to oppose and struggle. Even though the outcome was not as she expected or desired, she never regretted her choice. At the point of giving up and turning back, she says 'continue the struggle and freedom.' Celile's struggle for freedom might seem meaningless to some. They might wonder why a person, especially a woman, would embark on such a difficult adventure when she has such a comfortable life. The same question could be asked for Nazım Hikmet. With all that wealth and comfort, what happened that he embarked on such an arduous journey and sacrificed his entire life? Not just them, but countless artists and thinkers throughout human history sacrificed their lives for a more humane world. If not for them, we as humanity would not have reached the level we are at today. But it's not enough; we still have a long way to go.
We are in a world we call civilization, yet everywhere is awash with blood. Brutal massacres continue. While a small minority at the top dares to leave the rest of the world without water and bread, the masses accept this situation as fate. Yet, every human being born into life has the right to live humanely. Every person has the right to build a life for themselves in the way they desire. No one is forced to be confined to another's living space or to live the life another wants. I referenced Celile Hikmet's life story to emphasize this truth about humanity. I touched upon an artist's struggle for freedom to draw attention to art's role in the struggle for a humane life. A more humane world is possible not with war, but with art. The destruction of masses through war does not heal the world. In the short term, some might benefit from this.
Those who wish to accumulate capital through arms trade, those who play power games through mass destruction, may find short-term satisfaction, but in a world defiled by blood, the continuation of a dignified human life is becoming increasingly impossible. While it is possible to educate the masses instead of destroying them, nurture them with art, provide them with humane living conditions, and live together as human beings, why so much hatred, resentment, and massacre? To heed Celile's cries, Nazım's verses, Socrates' call from millennia ago, and to desire a more humane world. Why not?
WHO IS PROF. DR. NAZİFE GÜNGÖR?
Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör is a graduate of Ankara University, School of Press and Publication. She completed her master's and doctoral studies at Ankara University, Institute of Social Sciences. She began her academic career in 1991 as a Research Assistant at Gazi University, Faculty of Communication.
In the 2000-2001 academic year, she was a visiting academician at the University of Manchester in England as a scholar of the Turkish Academy of Sciences. Between 2004 and 2008, she served as Press and Public Relations Advisor at the Gazi University Rectorate.
Güngör, who also served as Head of the Journalism Department at the Faculty of Communication between 2007-2010, retired from her faculty position at Gazi University in September 2011, after which she worked as a full-time faculty member and dean at Istanbul Arel University Faculty of Communication for a period.
Nazife Güngör, who continues her academic activities within Üsküdar University Faculty of Communication, served as the Dean of the Faculty of Communication between 2015 and 2023. As of 2023, she has been appointed as the Rector of Üsküdar University.
Her copyrighted, compiled, and translated books include: Popüler Kültür ve İktidar (Vadi, 1999), Arabesk (Bilgi Yayınları, 1993), Abdülcanbaz (Cumhuriyet Kitapları, 2008), Cumhuriyet Döneminden Günümüze Dil, Kültür, Eğitim (Gazi Üniversitesi, 2006), Atatürkçü Düşüncenin Bilimsel ve Felsefi Temelleri (Gazi Üniversitesi, 2006), Çocuk ve Toplum (Çeviren, Gündoğan, 1995), Medya, İletişim, Kültür (Çeviren, Vadi, 2001), Gazi Üniversitesi Öğrenci Profili (Gazi Üniversitesi, 2007), Cumhuriyet Döneminde İletişim (Siyasal Kitabevi, 2010), İletişim, Kuramlar ve Yaklaşımlar (Birinci Baskı, Siyasal Kitabevi, 2011), İletişime Giriş (Birinci Baskı, Siyasal Kitabevi, 2011), İletişime Giriş (genişletilmiş 2. Baskı), Siyasal Kitabevi, 2013, İletişim Kuramlar ve Yaklaşımlar (genişletilmiş 2. Baskı), Siyasal Kitabevi, 2013, and she has various papers and articles in the field of communication.