Making feminist and post-colonial sense of ontological (in)security: securing Turkey through women’s emancipation

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Karaman Yılmazgil İ. B.

CRITICAL STUDIES ON SECURITY, vol.13, no.2, pp.1-20, 2025 (ESCI)

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 13 Issue: 2
  • Publication Date: 2025
  • Doi Number: 10.1080/21624887.2025.2503570
  • Journal Name: CRITICAL STUDIES ON SECURITY
  • Journal Indexes: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI)
  • Page Numbers: pp.1-20
  • Istanbul Medipol University Affiliated: No

Abstract

This article aims to uncover the relationship between ontological (in)securities and gender. Although ontological (in)securities are constructed by the power hierarchies between the ‘self’ and the ‘other’, gendered power hierarchies are rarely acknowledged. With the influence of ontological security studies, post-colonial studies, and feminist theorising, this article mainly argues that gender hierarchies are significant component of the ontological (in)securities. Adopting Turkey and its modernisation project initiated by the early republican male elites as a case study, this article aims to bring a gender lens to the study of ontological (in)security. This case study also uncovers that early republican elites’ initiation of state-led women’s emancipation project can be seen as a response to Turkey’s gendered ontological insecurities vis-a-vis the West.