Tango and the Dancing Body in Istanbul explores the expansion of social Argentine tango dancing among Muslim actors in Turkey, pioneered in Istanbul despite the conservative rule of the Justice and Development Party (JDP) and Tayyip Erdoğan. In this book, Melin Levent Yuna questions why a dance that appears to publicly represent an erotic relationship finds space to expand and increase dramatically in the number of contemporary Turkish Muslim tango dancers, particularly during a conservative rule. Even during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, tango dance classes, gatherings, and messages flourished on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Zoom. Urban Turkey and its tango dance performances provide one symbol and example of how neoliberal capitalism could go hand in hand with conservatism by becoming a bridge between Europe and the Middle East. This study largely focuses on the dancers’ perspective while presenting the policies of Erdoğan. It presents the social characteristics of the tango dancers, the meanings they attach to their bodies and their dance as well as what this dance reflects about them – besides the policies of the Justice and Development Party. The book approaches the tango dance and its dancing body in terms of layers of meaning systems in a neoliberal and conservative context. This study will be of great interest to students and scholars in dance, anthropology, cultural studies, and performance studies.

本作は、エルドアン政権下の保守化が進むトルコにおいて、なぜ官能的とされるアルゼンチン・タンゴが爆発的な広がりを見せたのかという逆説に鋭く切り込む文化人類学的な傑作です。イスタンブールの街角で舞う身体は、単なるステップの習得を超え、政治的制約と新自由主義的な欲望が交錯する境界線上で、自らのアイデンティティを再定義する沈黙の叫びとして描かれています。 著者のメリン・レヴェント・ユナは、ダンサーたちの内面へと深く沈潜し、踊る身体に宿る多層的な意味を鮮やかに解き明かします。宗教的な道徳観とグローバルな文化消費が矛盾なく共存する奇妙な均衡状態。その中でのタンゴは、抑圧への抵抗であると同時に、欧州と中東を繋ぐ架け橋としての身体言語でもあるのです。魂を揺さぶるこの論考は、現代社会における自由の在り方を、ステップの響きと共に私たちへ問いかけて止みません。