Roundtable: Domestic Priorities, Global Impacts: Turkish Television Explained

This roundtable will explore Turkish television in an interdisciplinary way within the contexts of both Turkey and across the globe. Celeste Wagner will discuss her work on the reception of Turkish TV series in Argentina, where they compete with the telenovela and relate to issues of nostalgia, nationalism, modernity, and availability. Bilge Yeşil will examine how the AKP-sanctioned historical dramas are deployed by the government as part of its global communication apparatus, and how they are received by Muslim audiences around the world. Petra de Bruijn will discuss the depiction of nationalism and religiosity in Turkish TV series. Ekmel Geçer will analyze how Turkish people’s choices about which series to consume relate to socio-political culture, internationalization, tolerance, and catharsis. Our moderator Arzu Öztürkmen will draw on each of these presentations to speak about some of the relevant themes that emerge around the influence of Turkish television series in Turkey and abroad.