Deep-Rooted Heritage | A Documentary Project Carrying Anatolia’s Oral Culture into the Future

Deep-Rooted Heritage is a comprehensive twelve-month documentary and digital archive project that sets out to record Anatolia’s cultural heritage — preserved for centuries through oral transmission — together with its last living bearers. Carried out in Artvin, Sivas, Mardin and Kırşehir, the project aims to contribute to cultural continuity by permanently documenting the knowledge, experience and memory of culture bearers aged between 35 and 95. Oral traditions at risk of disappearing through migration, urbanisation and the weakening of intergenerational ties are safeguarded in a secure digital environment.

In this project Yasin Yavuz coordinated the idea development, project design and content strategy processes of Deep-Rooted Heritage, taking an active role in shaping the documentary’s narrative structure. The project’s core approach treats culture not as something belonging to the past but as a living, changing value that shapes collective memory today. Field research, in-depth interviews and audiovisual recording were carried out meticulously to that end.

The documentary narrative is built around the themes of fire, water, earth and air, each linked to particular cities and traditions. Practices such as blacksmithing rituals, the collective work culture around the tandoor, forms of oral transmission among women and the ballads of the âşık tradition are examined through the many-layered relationship the people of Anatolia have with nature. This structure does more than convey information: it makes the emotional and human dimension of culture visible.

Beyond documentary production, Deep-Rooted Heritage sets out to build a robust digital archive infrastructure. All the material produced is made accessible on the Deep-Rooted Heritage digital platform, creating a sustainable resource for academics, researchers and the wider public. The process led by Yasin Yavuz raises public awareness of the need to protect cultural heritage while creating a lasting impact that carries Anatolia’s oral memory to future generations.