The Politics of Culture in Contemporary Turkey

by Pierre Hecker (Editor), Ivo Furman (Editor), Kaya Akyildiz (Editor)

Overview

Since coming to power, President Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) have focused on narrating their vision of a ‘New Turkey’ - an ideal that has resulted in the politicisation of popular culture and people’s everyday lives. Exposing the strategy of Turkey’s ruling elite to obtain cultural hegemony, this book examines the AKP’s efforts to rewrite Turkish public memory by promoting its ideas through TV series, movies, propaganda videos, school curricula and material culture in urban public spaces. It also explores the tactics of cultural resistance developed by the politically weak to counter the ruling elite’s dominant culture of pious conservatism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474490283
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	11/01/2021
Series:	Edinburgh Studies on Modern Turkey
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

Pierre Hecker is a Senior Researcher and Lecturer at the Centre for Near and Middle Eastern Studies (CNMS) at Philipps-UniversityMarburg, Germany. He holds a PhD in Near and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Leipzig and is the author of the book Turkish Metal. Music, Meaning, and Morality in a Muslim Society (Ashgate 2012; Routledge 2016). His recent publications include Islam. The Meaning of Style (Sociology of Islam 2018) and The “Arab Spring” and the End of Turkish Democracy (Palgrave, 2019). He is the head of the research group ‘“Ne mutlu ateistim diyene”. Atheism and the Politics of Culture in Contemporary Turkey’ funded by Stiftung Mercator.

Ivo Furman is Assistant Professor at Istanbul Bilgi University’s Faculty of New Media and Communication. He completed his PhD in Sociology at Goldsmiths College, University of London in 2015. His research has been supported by numerous institutions including the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education, the Turkish Science and Technology Foundation (TUBITAK) and Stiftung Mercator. He is part of the research group ‘“Ne mutlu ateistim diyene”. Atheism and the Politics of Culture in Contemporary Turkey’ funded by Stiftung Mercator.

Kaya Akyıldız is Assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology at Istanbul Bahçeşehir University. He completed his PhD in the Philosophy, Interpretation and Culture Program at Binghamton University. His research has been supported by numerous institutions including Stiftung Mercator and The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK). His recent research interests are related to political memory, Sunniness and the strategies of cultural hegemony in ‘New Turkey’.

Table of Contents

ForewordMartin Stokes, King’s College London

1. The Politics of Culture in ‘New Turkey’Pierre Hecker, Ivo Furman, Kaya Akyıldız

Part I: Subcultures and the Politics of Lifestyles

2. Battling Over the Spirit of a Nation: Attitudes Towards Alcohol in ‘New Turkey’Ivo Furman, Istanbul Bilgi University

3. Spreading VX-Gas over Kaaba: Islamic Semiotics in Turkish Black MetalDouglas Mattsson, Södertörn UniversityStockholm

4. Tired of Religion: Atheism and Non-Belief in ‘New Turkey’Pierre Hecker, Philipps UniversityMarburg

Part II: Satire and Agitprop in ‘New Turkey’

5. Democra-Z: Election Ads, a Failed Coup and Zombie Politics in ‘New Turkey’Josh Carney, American University of Beirut

6. United against the Referee: Competitive Authoritarianism, Soccer and the Remaking of Nationalism in Erdoğanist TurkeyCan Evren, Duke University

7. Between Resistance and Surrender: Counter-hegemonic Discourses in Turkish Satirical MagazinesValentina Marcella, University of Naples

Part III: Civil Society and the Politics of Gender

8. The Boundaries of Womanhood in ‘New Turkey’: The Case of KADEMGülşen Çakıl-Dinçer, Adıyaman University

9. Never Walk Alone: The Politics of Unveiling in ‘New Turkey’Ayşe Çavdar, Philipps UniversityMarburg

10. Welcome to Dystopia. A View into the Counter-hegemonic Discourse(s) of Ecological Activism in IstanbulJulia Lazarus, Berlin

PART IV: Mediating Neo-Ottomanism in Popular Culture

11. New Histories for a New Turkey: The First Battle of Kut (1916) and the Reshaping of the Ottoman PastBurak Onaran, Mimar Sinan Güzel Sanatlar University

12. Between Invention and Authenticity: Representations of Abdülhamid II in the TV Series ‘Payitaht’Caner Tekin, Ruhr UniversityBochum

13. Writing a Visual History of Turkey: ‘Glorious History’ in Mainstream Cinema vs ‘Complicated History’ in Arthouse FilmsDiliara Brileva A. Krymsky, Institute of Oriental Studies, Ukraine

14. The Politics of Nostalgia: The New Urban Culture in Ankara’s Historic NeighbourhoodsPetek Onur, University of Copenhagen

PART V: ‘New Turkey’s’ Ethno-Religious Others

15. The Affirmation of Sunni Supremacism in Erdoğan’s ‘New Turkey’Kaya Akyıldız, Istanbul Bahçeşehir University

16. ‘Because They Would Misunderstand’: Romeyka Heritage and the Masculine Reconfigurations of Public Culture in Contemporary TurkeyErol Sağlam, Istanbul Medeniyet University

17. A Politics of Presence: Public Performances of Roma Belonging in IstanbulDanielle V. Schoon, Ohio State University

Notes on ContributorsIndex

Editorial Reviews

The editors are to be congratulated for putting together such a valuable volume, which indeed moves the reader on from seeing ‘fragments’ of culture to the perception of that culture’s ‘fault lines’.

Turkish Area Studies Review - Çiğdem Balım

A wonderfully wide-ranging collection of essays, critical and yet hopeful, presenting a compelling cultural map of the ‘New Turkey’ and in so doing making a significant contribution to the globalisation of Turkish cultural studies.

Dr. John Storey