Media representations of the cultural other in Turkey

Abstract

This book is an important contribution to the scholarship on Turkey's cultural and political dynamics, facilitating a discussion on the recent depictions of the cultural other in the media. Turkey's modern history has been characterized by a particular tension between the social classes occupying the "center" of society: while the bureaucratic elite are represented as modern, secular and westernized, the "peripheral" communities are portrayed as conservative, religious or non-Turkish. This book facilitates a timely intervention to problematize this possible perception and to point at the complex dynamics of center-periphery relations through the representation of the cultural other in film, television, advertisements and cartoons, which have all been produced by different social classes. Ultimately, Media Representations of the Cultural Other in Turkey argues that the notions of the center and periphery do not signify stable positions; rather, each social agent imagines themselves at the center, the cultural other at their periphery providing a crucial tool for the realization of their own identity. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018. All rights reserved.