Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
4th International Symposium of Communication in the Digital Age, Gazimagusa, Kıbrıs (Kktc), 27 - 29 Kasım 2024, ss.1-7
The subject of this study is to examine the
relationship of fine arts faculty students with the unreal or supernatural
power through lucky objects. This study aims to identify the objects that art
students carry in their bags, pencil cases, work environments and on their
clothes, to examine the meanings attributed to them, and the effect of this
effect on students' work performance and motivation. To achieve this aim, data
were collected between 15th September - 15th December 2024 through
participant observations and via interview research techniques with an
ethnographic emphasis. The importance of this paper to reveal what social and
psychological needs and gaps this situation arises from in the students who are
studying in the first year of the university, to recognize their search for
psychological and social support, and to listen to their approaches on this
subject, analyze them and solve their perspectives.
In all works that require creativity, originality
and design, human beings use their personal skills, inner strengths and
knowledge as well as; They have also been searching for a helping hand, a magic
touch from the outside that will motivate them, take them to the solution of
the problem when they get stuck, and push them towards the beautiful. For this
reason, the objects and words they inspired turned into totems, spells and
magic over time, and different rituals have appeared before researchers
throughout history. Andre Breton states that he believes that over time, art
assumes the function of magic [1].
Among all the departments of the university, we
observed that art faculty students, especially those in the cartoon-animation
department, carry various small objects in/on pencil cases, clothes, back bags
or put on as jewelry. Therefore the field research was conducted among 26
students who were entitled to study in the first year of the Cartoon -
Animation Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Anadolu University in the
2024 academic year.
Main problems of
this research are,
• What meanings do students attribute to
these objects? In their opinion, how do these objects contribute to their
lives?
The objects and
ornaments that they commonly enjoy carrying with them, keeping in their bags or
putting on themselves, and which they keep as a lucky ornament, assuming that
they are auspicious, were investigated. It has been determined that these good
luck objects have been with students between 2 months to 6 years, that they are
themed under 7 main headings that constitute the reasons for emotional
attachment. The bond they created and the meanings they ascribed to these
objects, which they declared to be lucky objects for themselves and to
which they attributed good luck, were examined.
The fact that
their expectations regarding them- results differ between male and female
students. The meanings attributed to the objects carried or supernatural
expectations from the objects differ according to gender among students: Boys
have desires related to power, while girls carry objects because of a story
related to the people in their lives. For example, the objects carried by boys
include key chains for house key- with models of luxury cars such as BMW or
miniatures of superheroes. Girls, on the other hand, carry childhood toys,
parental gifts as jewelry or birthday presents, etc. that remind them home,
friends and family. Although they attribute different meanings to gender and
the objects, they carry the functions of these objects in their lives are the
same. The tendency to keep lucky objects and totemize them, which has become
evident in recent years, has also become widespread among young people studying
in the field of art. Both girls and boys use these objects to cope with the
unknowns and difficulties during the higher education life away from home.
Keywords : lucky ornaments, luck, fine
arts students, totems.