Erzurum Teknik Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi

Öz

Hikmet Birand is one of the first botanists of Türkiye, who loves the whole world, and has been the rector of the same university as well as being one of the founders of Ankara University Faculty of Science. He is also the first to work in the field of plant sociology. Having an interest in literature as well as his contributions to botanical science, Birand preferred to make use of literature in order to explain Türkiye's plant diversity and the importance of protecting this diversity to the public. In his works titled Alıç Ağacı ile Sohbetler and Anadolu Manzaraları, which he wrote in this direction, it is seen that he introduced the geographical structure of the country and the diversity of plants to the reader by telling stories from time to time with the style of travel writing, based on the travels he made to every inch of Türkiye in accordance with his profession. Plants appear before the reader as a narrative hero in some or all parts of his works. It can be said that Birand was able to make the plants talk.
In this study, the works of Hikmet Birand, who is one of the pioneers of ecocriticism in Türkiye, along with his literary works despite being a botanist, will be examined and his efforts to create ecological awareness will be emphasized. Thus, it will be tried to prove that the foundations of ecocriticism and one of its sub-branches, climate fiction, were laid in the first years of the Republic.