Understanding Media and Culture in Turkey

Description

Discourse (both popular and academic) surrounding Turkey has leaned toward the reductionist and the de-contextualized, framing Turkish media, culture and politics in polarized terms such as East vs. West, Modern vs. Traditional or Muslim vs. Christian. The objective of this new volume is to move away from such essentialist dichotomies and to provide scholars with a well-written, comprehensive and much-needed investigation into media and culture in Turkey.

Three themes, "Structures," "Spaces" and "Voices," make up the core structure of the book, providing an intellectual and epistemological arc. Following an introductory chapter written by the co-editors, the first section, "Structures," provides critical examinations of the structural underpinnings of contemporary Turkish media and culture through analyses of, for example, journalism, cultural policy, Information Society and citizenship. The second section, "Spaces," connects Turkish media and culture to spatial/locational factors: Turkey’s role and place in Europe; the Turkish diasporic space; representations of the Turkish "East;" and Istanbul as urban/social space. In the final section, "Voices," the book turns toward chapters that address central issues in contemporary Turkish media—for example, Islam, arabesk music and the presentation of Kurds on national television—from a cultural perspective.

The text will be essential reading for scholars within, for example, Middle and Near Eastern Studies, Media Studies, Sociology who wish to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between media, politics and culture in this complex and increasingly important country.

Contents

1. Re-contextualizing Turkey: Beyond the East-West Divide

Christian Christensen (Karlstad University, Sweden) & Miyase Christensen (Karlstad University, Sweden)

Section I: Structures

2. Articulating Identity and Citizenship in Turkey

E. Fuat Keyman (Koc University, Turkey)

3. The Development of Commercial Broadcasting in Turkey

Cem Pekman (Marmara University, Turkey)

4. The Passing of Traditional Hegemony and the Rise of Islamic Media: Structural and Ideological Change in the Turkish Media Since 1990

Haluk Sahin (Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey)

5. Shifting Cultural Policy Discourse in Turkey Today

Asu Aksoy (Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey)

6. Between Laughter, Tears and Nationalism: The Rise of a New Popular Cinema in Turkey

Asuman Suner (Sabanci University, Turkey)

7. The State of the Information Society in Turkey: A Multi-Dimensional Approach

Kursat Cagiltay (Middle East Technical University, Turkey) & Mete Yildiz (Hacettepe University, Turkey)

8. Access Denied: Video-Sharing, the State and Censorship in Turkey

Christian Christensen (Karlstad University, Sweden)

Section II: Spaces

9. Europe and Turkey: Why Such a Bad Relationship? And What New possibilities?

Kevin Robins (City University-London, UK)

10. Between Silence and Recognition: Popular Constructions of ‘East’ and ‘Eastern People’ in Contemporary Turkey

Ayse Öncü (Sabanci University, Turkey)

11. A Showcase for the Global City: The Neighborhood of Tesvikiye in Istanbul

Leyla Neyzi (Sabanci University, Turkey)

12. Media Used and Created in the Diaspora: From the Time of the European Recruitment of Turkish Workers Until Today

Christine L. Ogan (Indiana University, USA)

13. Mapping the City on a Billboard: Visual Marketing of Istanbul for a Contemporary Agenda

Özlem Unsal (City University-London, UK)

Section III: Voices

14. The Irresistible Rise of the Spectacle: Hegemony and Resistance in Turkish Media

Mahmut Mutman (Bilkent University, Turkey)

15. Culture and Women’s Voices

Nuket Kardam (Monterey Institute of International Studies, USA)

16. The Subjugating Power of the Media and the Public Gaze: Secularism and the Islamic Headscarf

Alev Cinar (Bilkent University, Turkey)

17. The Melancholic Cosmopolitanism of Muslum Gurses

Martin Stokes (Oxford University, UK)

18. Interrupted Voices in Turkey’s Contentious Public Sphere

Miyase Christensen (Karlstad University, Sweden)

19. Love (and Hate) Thy Neighbour: The Construction of Kurdishness in Turkish TV Serials

Author Bio

Christian Christensen is Associate Professor in the Department of Informatics and Media at Uppsala University in Sweden. He is the author of numerous book chapters and peer-reviewed articles on media and communication in Turkey, journalism, media, new technology and conflict. His research has been published in journals such as Media, War & Conflict, The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, Global Media & Communication, The British Journalism Review and Popular Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture.

Miyase Christensen is Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Communication Studies at Karlstad University in Sweden. In addition to the books mentioned below, Christensen has published numerous international articles and book chapters and her research areas include: globalisation processes and the political economy of media; media and information society policies (with an emphasis on the EU and Turkey); media, identity, citizenship and politics. Her current projects include and international collaborative work on new media communities, transnationalization and citizenship.

Related Subjects

1. International Media
2. Middle East Film and Media
3. Cultural Studies