Reproducing Turkishness in historical dramas: Politics,populism,and Islam

Abstract

The rise of populism worldwide has been well documented, and the ways in which that populism is reinforced through cultural means is of tantamount importance to understanding its continued purchase. One significant case study is in Turkey, where the historical dramas Diriliş: Ertuğrul and Kuruluş: Osman, produced by a public and private broadcaster respectively, are foundational media and cultural artifacts that seek to produce and reproduce a populist Turkishness in ways that situate Turkish identity at the intersection of Islam and empire. The findings suggest that there are incentives for the current Turkish administration and private market participants alike to embrace empire as an essentially Turkish trait while Islam's utility is less straightforward as the country is thrown into political turmoil, lessening the favorability of the Justice and Development party currently in power.