https://www.sapiens.org/culture/cat-human-bonds-history-turkey/ New Stories All Stories Podcast Seasons Episodes video / Human Rights What It's Like to Grow Old on the Margins Magdalena Zegarra Chiappori In a brief documentary, an anthropologist provides a glimpse into the precarious lives of poor older Peruvians whose experiences mirror those of countless elders around the world. column / Entanglements For the Love of Cats in Turkey Gideon Lasco On a visit to feline-friendly Turkey, an anthropologist considers what long-standing practices of caring for cats reveal about human societies. poem / Reflections Fishing for Dust Mesak Takhelmayum A poet-historian from Manipur, India, shapes tensions between violence and beauty into an allegory, calling residents and readers alike to stay awake. essay / Human Rights Living as Stateless Palestinians in Jordan Michael Vicente Perez Israel's war on Gaza that erupted in 2023 continues a long history of systemic displacement of Palestinians. Over 2 million Palestinian refugees currently live in Jordan in indefinite exile, tens of thousands without citizenship in any country. essay / In Flux Excavating the Coexistence of Neanderthals and Modern Humans Rick Schulting An archaeologist explains how remains recently recovered from a cave in present-day Germany suggest that Neanderthals and modern humans populated Europe together for at least 10,000 years. poem / Identities At the Intersection of Sarinah Plaza, Thamrin Street Moh. Faiz Maulana A poet-anthropologist in Indonesia criticizes extremist militants who use religion to commit violence. essay / Viewpoint Among Gun Rights Activists, Fears About Survival Reign Morwari Zafar An anthropologist delves into what the rising ranks of local firearm-touting militias in Virginia reveal about intensifying political polarization in the U.S.--and what these shifts might mean for the 2024 presidential election. essay / Material Culture Replacing Plastic Prayers With Biodegradable Blessings in the Himalayas Kalzang Dorjee Bhutia, Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa, Ang Dolma Sherpa, and Pasang Yangjee Sherpa As synthetic prayer flags and scarves pollute the Himalayan region, a team of scholars and activists work to spread sustainable materials drawn from Indigenous knowledge. poem / Reflections 08.03.2019 Sanjna Girish Yechareddy A poet-anthropologist from India recalls a checkpoint encounter in Sri Lanka, just months after the Easter Sunday bombings. essay / Icons What's Behind the Evolution of Neanderthal Portraits Cindy Hsin-yee Huang Since the 1800s, Neanderthal depictions have evolved not only with changing science but also due to social views. An archaeologist explains why visualizations of our evolutionary cousins matter. essay / Cultural Relativity Finding Footprints Laid at the Dawn of Time Mariana Petry Cabral In the Brazilian Amazon, a university-trained archaeologist and Wajapi Indigenous people understand traces from the past differently--but their partnership bears fruit for both. poem / Human Rights Expert Witness Reviews Exhibits for Asylum Proceedings, Franco-Gonzalez Class Member Whitney L. Duncan A poet-anthropologist who has been an expert witness in asylum proceedings for Mexican nationals resists dehumanizing legal and political language to make space for the humanity of asylum-seekers. essay / Wayfinding Reading the Future of an Amazonian Mine Sebastian Vacas-Oleas In Ecuador, Shuar people, an Indigenous group in the region, face increasing threats to their ways of life from industrial mining. But some find strength and courage to resist through knowledge gained by using hallucinogenic plants. poem / Reflections Making Anthropological Poetry Reel Esteban M. Gomez In featuring three SAPIENS poems, students in a digital anthropology seminar infused video reels for Instagram with vivid history and powerful emotions. poem / Wayfinding Between the Lines Josh Yarden A poet-anthropologist in Israel looks to his students and their surroundings, calling for "seekers of peace" to create lifelines across social and geopolitical divides. op-ed / Material World Tools of the Wild: Unveiling the Crafty Side of Nature Michael Haslam and Abigail Desmond Once considered a uniquely human activity, tool use has been spotted across diverse species. It's time to rethink what tools reveal about their users' intelligence and evolution. essay / Decoded Taking Cultural Preservation to a New Dimension Stephen Wessels, Benjamin Schoville, Jayne Wilkins, and Sechaba Maape A multidisciplinary team of researchers explains historical, cultural, and ethical issues they considered while developing a 3D scan of a South African site to be shared with the world online. poem / Reflections A Mausoleum of Our Everydays/Nai nsang negu herouki Haidamteu Zeme Newme A humanities and social science doctoral student from Manipur, India, takes readers on a journey through ordinary moments interwoven with violence. essay / Lab Bench Celebrity Status Almost Ruined Ancient DNA Research Cecilia Padilla-Iglesias An evolutionary anthropologist draws lessons from paleogenetic's journey from Jurassic Park fiction to Nobel Prize reality. poem / Wayfinding Strange Future Ojo Taiye A Nigerian eco-activist and poet wonders what future lies ahead in the face of climate change impacts and resistance to large-scale emission reductions. essay / Expressions Poems of Witness and Possibility: Inside Zones of Conflict Christine Weeber, Ather Zia, and Toiba Naseema Anthropological poems from around the globe speak to people's creative will, resistance, and resilience--and the significance of our shared humanity. op-ed / Maladies Gene Therapy's Promise Meets Nigeria's Sickle Cell Reality Morenike Samuel Breakthrough treatments can now cure sickle cell anemia in the U.S. But the pricey therapies will hardly help in Nigeria, where social changes could do more for millions impacted by the disease. essay / Phenomenon Taking on Parkinson's Disease--With Boxing Gloves and Punching Bags Julia K. Sloane In a California gym, people living with Parkinson's practice noncontact boxing to redefine their experience of the disease and maintain a sense of self. op-ed / Crossroads Como desaparecen objetos de los museos Jeannette Plummer Sires Tras los presuntos robos en el Museo Britanico, una conservadora de museos explica los desafios de llevar el registro de las colecciones --y las limitaciones legales para devolver material cultural a las comunidades de origen--. poem / Reflections Earlier I Had Nightmares, Now I Have Insomnia Toiba Naseema A Kashmiri poet-anthropologist records the restless despair many feel under Indian occupation. essay / In Flux Tackling the Wreckage of War Jonathan Gardner An archaeologist traces how rubble from World War II bombings helped turn London marshlands into a footballing utopia. interview / Viewpoint How Racism Shapes the U.S. Opioid Epidemic Marlaina Martin Public health officials say opioid use and related deaths have reached a crisis point in the U.S. An interview with anthropologist and psychiatrist Helena Hansen unpacks the racial disparities in how drug addiction is interpreted, portrayed, and treated. poem / Reflections A Long Road Ahead Toiba Naseema SAPIENS' 2023 poet-in-residence questions where peace of mind can come from for Indian-occupied Kashmir. op-ed / Human Nature What Is "Natural" for Human Sexual Relationships? Rui Diogo A biological and anthropological researcher explains how humans' diverse ways of mating might have evolved. essay / Counterpoint Dismantling the "Man the Hunter" Myth Sarah A. Lacy and Cara Ocobock Two biological anthropologists analyze archaeological and physiological evidence to debunk enduring assumptions about the gendered division of labor in ancient times. poem / Human Rights This Militarization Toiba Naseema A poet-anthropologist conveys her life when she was coming of age under the increasing mobilization of military forces in Indian-occupied Kashmir. poem / Counterpoint Documenting the Kashmir Conflict Through Poetry Toiba Naseema SAPIENS' 2023 poet-in-residence sketches the history she speaks to in three poems from Indian-occupied Kashmir. 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By Gideon Lasco 12 Mar 2024 Gideon Lasco is an anthropologist and a physician based in Manila, the Philippines. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Amsterdam and his M.D. from the University of the Philippines, where he currently teaches anthropology. His research includes the chemical practices of young people, the meanings of human height, the politics of health care, and the lived realities of the Philippine "drug war." Lasco has a weekly column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, where he writes about health, culture, and society. Follow him on Twitter @gideonlasco. While visiting eastern Turkey to climb Mount Ararat, I discovered a nice cafe called Ru Sahaf in the town of Dogubayazit. I had arrived days before the hike and was looking for a place to work remotely. The cafe had nice chairs, jazz music, good coffee, and decent internet: a perfect spot. To my surprise, as I was in the middle of writing, two kittens--gray tabbies wearing collars with bells--walked up to me. Without hesitating, they made themselves comfortable in my lap. Now, I have been to cat cafes around the world, but they are usually designated as such--Catfecito in a neighborhood where I lived in Mexico City or the numerous cat cafes in different Tokyo neighborhoods. But Ru Sahaf was not a cat cafe, so I was surprised by the kittens' sudden appearance. Two kittens joined the author's work session at a cafe in eastern Turkey. Gideon Lasco I quickly got used to having the creatures on my lap--or crawling over my laptop. When I would be lost in thought, meeting their stares would provide a welcome distraction, and I came to enjoy their company. Several days later, after I successfully climbed the 5,000-meter mountain, I returned to the cafe to find the kittens just as eager to snuggle with me as I answered emails and worked on articles. Cats are all over Turkey. In Istanbul, which I visited before traveling to eastern Turkey, cats are welcome not just in cafes but in houses, restaurants, hotels, and bars. Kedi, a 2016 documentary by Ceyda Torun, featured the everyday lives of several of these community cats who are owned by no one but cared for by many. In the process, the film revealed how the world would look if we were to view it from a feline perspective, even including some shots taken close to ground level. "We see that these cats aren't merely wondrous creatures in themselves," as critic John Powers wrote of the documentary, "but that they enrich the whole city." Kedi (Turkish for "cat") also charts the ways humans care for felines, from making them snacks to bringing them to the vet. YouTube/Oscilloscope Laboratories As an anthropologist, this intimacy with cats fascinates me because they represent another instance of how "human culture" is in fact made up of our relationships with nonhumans. Globally, cats have accompanied humans since ancient times, beginning in Western Asia almost 10,000 years ago. Humans initially welcomed them in their nascent settlements for their ability to control rodents; today cats can be found anywhere there's a human presence--including in cyberspace. But what makes cats especially loved in Turkey, and what can we learn from this special relationship in one particular country? No one knows for sure how cats became beloved in Turkey. The origin story of the significance of cats is, in the words of anthropologist Kimberly Hart, the "stuff of cultural memory and legends rather than historical verifiability." It's clear, however, that religion played a role, particularly Islam, which the vast majority of the Turkish population--98 percent according to one recent survey--adheres to. While some Muslims have ambiguous attitudes toward keeping dogs as pets, cats are considered ritually clean and have been historically favored, dating to the Prophet Muhammad who is said to have loved cats. In Istanbul today, there is a "cat-friendly imam" who welcomes felines to his mosque. "It is something any Muslim should do," he says. My friend Oguz from Turkey agrees with the sentiment, citing a Turkish saying that goes: "If you kill a cat, you must build a mosque." According to Turkish historian Ekrem Bugra Ekinci, cats' abilities to control rodents made them an "indispensable part" of households during the time of the Ottoman Empire. Written accounts from the 16th century report the existence of cat hospitals and gardens in and around Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), where locals fed and cared for large stray populations. Many of these traditions of "stewardship," as Hart refers to them, persist today, carried out by people of different religious affiliations, ethnicities, genders, classes, and ages. A woman visiting the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque in Istanbul holds a Turkish Angora (a.k.a. Ankara), a domesticated cat breed that originated in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). Muhammed Enes Yildirim/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Just as important as these culturally specific factors, however, may well be qualities inherent to cats that drive people's fascination with them. Cats seem to have a mind of their own, an inscrutability and imperviousness that make them at once fascinating and endearing. Michael Gross, a science writer based at Oxford, suggests this has to do with how they co-evolved with humans: "Unlike dogs ... which have been profoundly altered by breeding and the need to fit into human society, cats didn't change that much compared with their wild ancestors and have kept their independent spirit." As with any kind of interspecies relationship, human-cat relations have not been without tensions. Among medieval Christians, cats were sometimes treated with suspicion because of their associations with paganism and witchcraft. In parts of Europe, people killed cats because of their supposed associations with the devil--leading to higher rat populations that likely encouraged the spread of the Black Death and other plagues in the Middle Ages. Even in Turkey, historic examples show a distrust of cats, especially during disease outbreaks. During a cholera scare in the 1830s, a "general crusade" led to cats being "shot without mercy." Almost 200 years later, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, some people abandoned their pets--including the otherwise-loved cats--due to fears that the animals could spread disease. Elsewhere around the world, the overpopulation of feral cats is now seen as a major threat to wildlife. In Australia, the government has taken the controversial measure of culling millions of feral cats. At least for now, the majority of Istanbul's human residents seem unbothered by the over 100,000 cats in their city--though some see stray cats as out of step with their vision of Istanbul's future as a "modern" city, as Hart's research explores. And as animal rights advocates and cat lovers point out, some community cats live in miserable conditions. In an interview, Torun, the director of Kedi, acknowledged "the darker sides of cats' lives in Istanbul, and the struggles that cat advocates or animal activists have" in caring for street animals. Perhaps feline lovers in Turkey can take heart, however, in recent events that suggest the special bond between cats and humans remains strong. During last year's earthquake in Turkey, news reports featured stories of people going to great lengths to rescue cats caught in rubble. Some cats repaid the favor by refusing to leave their rescuers' sides. After a magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit Mardin, Turkey, in February 2023, fireman Ali Cakas (right) adopted a cat he rescued. The cat was given the name Enkaz ("Rubble"). Halil Ibrahim Sincar/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images It will come as little surprise to the reader that I drafted this piece when surrounded by the two cats in Dogubayazit. In between typing sentences and sipping some coffee, I would end up staring at the kittens, and they would stare back at me. I have since left Turkey, but the memory of that quiet cafe remains in my mind as clearly as the snow atop Mount Ararat. "A cat has absolute emotional honesty: Human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not," Ernest Hemingway once wrote. If he is right, then I would like to think that the feelings I saw are those of friendship. Copy link Facebook Twitter Email Print Republish Share [ ] Subscribe to Our Newsletter [ ] Subscribe Stay connected Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Twitter, Mastodon, Flipboard Share Copy link, Facebook, Twitter, Email, Print, Republish Gideon Lasco's latest articles column / Entanglements What Spider Games Say About Arachnophobia Gideon Lasco Many people around the world fear spiders. But in the Philippines, the tradition of spider wrestling often brings people and arachnids in close proximity. column / Entanglements The Human Roots of Japan's Cherry Blossoms Gideon Lasco Most cherry blossom trees planted in Japan today are the iconic pale-pink somei-yoshino variety--but its reign may be coming to an end. column / Entanglements Picturing the Deep Universe Is Deeply Human Gideon Lasco The James Webb Space Telescope's stunning photos require extensive image processing--revealing as much about humanity as about the universe. column / Entanglements Alive in the Flapping of Infinite Orange Wings Gideon Lasco Monarch butterflies' epic annual migration from North America to Mexico inspires an anthropologist to reflect on this insect's precarious life cycles through the lens of "multispecies ethnography." column / Entanglements Does "Monkeypox" Give Monkeys a Bad Name? Gideon Lasco The debate over naming the virus known as monkeypox says a lot about the close--but fraught--relationships between humans and our fellow primates. column / Entanglements Why Do (Some) Humans Love Chili Peppers? Gideon Lasco An anthropologist traces the origins and world travels of one of his favorite kinds of plants. column / Entanglements Did Margaret Mead Think a Healed Femur Was the Earliest Sign of Civilization? Gideon Lasco An anthropologist digs into the origins of a popular story attributed to Margaret Mead about the original sign of civilization. column / Entanglements The Cultural Anxieties of Xenotransplantation Gideon Lasco A genetically engineered pig heart was transplanted to a human body for the first time this year. While many celebrated, others remain uneasy. Anthropologists can shed light on why. Republish You may republish this article, either online and/or in print, under the Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0 license. 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