Delivering a keynote lecture on Turkish TV dramas, Dean Marwan Kraidy examined the connections between geopolitics and national media industries in the context of the global reach and circulation of Turkish television drama.
Kraidy drew insights from his book Reality Television and Arab Politics and from field research to explain how the infusion of popular culture into the arena of geopolitics awakens collective memory and triggers contentious politics, exploring the geopolitical ramifications of Turkish drama exports in Beirut and Buenos Aires.
Kraidy was speaking at a workshop hosted by Leiden University’s Lorentz Center. The workshop was designed to investigate the socio-political impact of Turkish television series on a national level, as well as its outreach to the international world of media consumers.
In his talk – Deconstructing the Geopolitics of the Popular: Turkish Television Drama, Global Circulation, and National Media Industries – he explained that the rise in the international circulation was the result of rapid commercialization, consolidation, and assertive geopolitical stances of Turkish authorities. This, he said, has aided the expansion of Turkish drama over dominant regional producers like Egypt, which he noted was “once a symbol of regional influence, with Turkish drama coming in, this turned into an emblem of national weakness.”
Kraidy drew insights from his book Reality Television and Arab Politics and from field research to explain how the infusion of popular culture into the arena of geopolitics awakens collective memory and triggers contentious politics, exploring the geopolitical ramifications of Turkish drama exports in Beirut and Buenos Aires.
Kraidy was speaking at a workshop hosted by Leiden University’s Lorentz Center. The workshop was designed to investigate the socio-political impact of Turkish television series on a national level, as well as its outreach to the international world of media consumers.
In his talk – Deconstructing the Geopolitics of the Popular: Turkish Television Drama, Global Circulation, and National Media Industries – he explained that the rise in the international circulation was the result of rapid commercialization, consolidation, and assertive geopolitical stances of Turkish authorities. This, he said, has aided the expansion of Turkish drama over dominant regional producers like Egypt, which he noted was “once a symbol of regional influence, with Turkish drama coming in, this turned into an emblem of national weakness.”
“Antagonism and polarization are central dimensions of contemporary public culture, which is best understood as a field of power where various social norms, values, and identities struggle for visibility and legitimization”
- Marwan Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern Qatar
According to Kraidy, Turkish drama’s commercial attractiveness and popular success with mass viewers have also increased their popularity with programmers beyond the Middle East. In Latin America, he noted, “whereas Argentinian production, particularly television, was weakened by over-sexualization in the 1980s and the 1990s, Turkish drama was sort of the coup de grâce that came in.”
Another social element brought about by the expansion of Turkish drama circulation is the expanded modality of expression. “Social and political tensions expressed in popular culture have achieved much broader circulation with the advent of social media, satellite TV, and the ability to move cultural commodities very quickly through digital content,” said Kraidy.
“Antagonism and polarization are central dimensions of contemporary public culture, which is best understood as a field of power where various social norms, values, and identities struggle for visibility and legitimization,” said Kraidy, pointing at the lobbying efforts of the Armenian community in Buenos Aries to boycott Turkish drama as an example of the impact of popular culture on public life.
Another social element brought about by the expansion of Turkish drama circulation is the expanded modality of expression. “Social and political tensions expressed in popular culture have achieved much broader circulation with the advent of social media, satellite TV, and the ability to move cultural commodities very quickly through digital content,” said Kraidy.
“Antagonism and polarization are central dimensions of contemporary public culture, which is best understood as a field of power where various social norms, values, and identities struggle for visibility and legitimization,” said Kraidy, pointing at the lobbying efforts of the Armenian community in Buenos Aries to boycott Turkish drama as an example of the impact of popular culture on public life.
