Intended Cultural Heritage Carriers: A Study on Safranbolu Crafts Masters

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Cultural heritage is an important concept in terms of both the sustainability and the transfer of cultural assets to future generations, which are evidences for social memory. Increasing reaction to sameness with globalization has also made it very important to both reveal and preserve cultural elements that do not compromise on local and originality. In this context, it is also important to identify, reveal and protect traditional professions, which are an important element of cultural heritage. In this study, traditional handicrafts, which were brought to the UNESCO World Heritage List in Safranbolu district of Karabük province, which were taken to the point of extinction, were discussed. The aim of the study is to record the traditional professions listed as cultural heritage values and the information provided by the masters performing these, to record and transfer them to future generations. In line with the subject and purpose of the study, after presenting a conceptual framework based on intangible cultural heritage and traditional handicrafts, information about traditional handicrafts transferred from past to present has been given. In the research, the qualitative research method that expresses the non-numerical examination and interpretation of the observations to discover the meaning and type of the relations and the unstructured interview (interview) technique were used to collect the data. Between September and December 2019, field research was carried out in the region, which is referred to as the “Historic Bazaar” of Safranbolu in a four-month period. The professions listed as cultural heritage values and the data obtained from the interviews with the masters performing these (qualitative interview data) were the main data sources of the study. Handicrafts that are tried to be kept alive in Safranbolu are performed in Arasta Bazaar and the shops around it. Handicrafts requiring labor and patience in Safranbolu are now abandoned and face extinction due to reasons such as lack of demand and lack of interest in youth within the scope of master-apprentice education. In Safranbolu, it has been determined that ironworking, coppersmithing, tinseling, botanism, yemenism and cane-making, which continue to be valid as well as being a cultural element, continue to exist. In the majority of the professions mentioned in the study, the number of people performing the profession is either single or more than a few years old. In addition, the absence of an element (apprentice) to be trained in those engaged in the professions in question carries the risk of extinction when the craftsmen abandon the profession. Important duties fall on local administrations, relevant institutions and organizations, universities, non-governmental organizations in terms of protecting and transferring these professions to the future.

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Cultural Geography , Safranbolu , Intangible Cultural Heritage , Traditional Handicrafts

eastern geographical review

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eastern geographical review