Turkish Culture through Media

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Turkish Culture has exploded beyond ethnic, national, and regional boundaries due to social media, film, music, and a vast body of television serials. This course will use these genres to examine Turkish culture and also its receptions in places far beyond the Republic of Turkey. New forms of media have created hybrid sensations – such as when a Turkish mafia boss released a wildly popular weekly series of revelations about government corruption from the United Arab Emirates, or when rappers joined together to create a long-form music video taking up issues such as environmental justice and censorship. This course will examine themes such as neo-Ottomanism as portrayed in film and television and delve into the uses and abuses of social media for diplomatic outreach, surveillance, and political activism.