THE RECONSTRUCTION OF PHYSICAL CULTURE AS A STATE POLICY IN EARLY REPUBLICAN TURKEY: AN ANALYSIS THROUGH ÜLKÜ JOURNAL

Resumen

This study examines the reconstruction of the understanding of sport during the Atatürk era through an analysis of sports‑related writings published in Ülkü Magazine, the official periodical of the People’s Houses (Halkevleri), between 1933 and 1938. Drawing on historical content analysis, the article explores how sport was conceptualized as an ideological, cultural, and institutional instrument within the broader project of Republican modernization and nation‑building. The primary data set consists of articles, reports, commentaries, and legislative discussions published in Ülkü, which were analyzed using an inductive qualitative approach. The findings reveal that sport in the early Republican period was not perceived merely as a form of physical activity but as a multifaceted social practice linked to bodily discipline, moral formation, and the construction of a modern national identity. The magazine strongly associated sport with ideals of health, discipline, collective consciousness, and national strength, while framing physical education as a means of cultivating a productive and ideologically committed youth. The dissemination of sport through the People’s Houses and the institutionalization of physical training under state authority are shown to reflect a biopolitical understanding of the body aligned with Republican ideology. Moreover, the positive discourse on women’s participation in sport highlights the transformative dimension of modernization in relation to gender norms. By focusing on a periodical source rather than exclusively on legal regulations or institutional structures, this study contributes to the literature by illuminating the cultural and intellectual foundations of sport during the Atatürk era and offers a periodical‑centered perspective on the social functions of sport in early Republican Turkey.