Language use, foodways, and identity: A mixed-methods study of Arab Alawis in Karşıyaka, Adana

Date

2025-9-19

Author

Bideratan, Serkan

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This thesis investigates the foodways, language use, and identity within the Arab Alawi community of Karşıyaka, Adana, Türkiye. With 50 participants, the study employs a convergent mixed-methods design (Creswell & Plano-Clark, 2018) and integrates qualitative data from semi-structured interviews and quantitative data from questionnaires. The study utilizes Reflexive Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), Fishman’s (1991) theory of language shift, the sociocultural anthropology of food, and Bucholtz and Hall’s (2006) sociocultural linguistic framework of identity. The qualitative findings revealed three themes: (1) foodways as central to Arab Alawi culture but vulnerable to modernization and socioeconomic pressures; (2) stigma, pragmatism, and disruption in intergenerational transmission in the shift from Cilician Arabic to Turkish, (3) discursive construction and negotiation of Arab, Turkish, and hybrid identities which are fluid, context-dependent, and sometimes contradictory. Quantitative analyses mostly supported these findings and showed strong agreement on the cultural significance of food across all ages, generational differences in Arabic use, which decreases with age and education, and fragmented identities from the qualitative strand. With both insider and outsider perspectives, the study demonstrates that while foodways constitute a strong symbol of Arab Alawi identities, Cilician Arabic experiences advanced shift due to external and internal reasons, and there is no static and uniform Arab Alawi identity. These findings contribute to research on language shift, foodways as cultural resilience, and the complexity of identity in non-majority communities. It also emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to understanding the experiences of non-majority groups under sociopolitical and economic pressures.

Subject Keywords

Arab Alawis, Cilician Arabic, Foodways, Identity, Language shift

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/115654

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis