Demet Lüküslü
Yeditepe University, Sociology, Faculty Member
- Sociology, Youth Studies, Political Sociology, Social Movements, Sociology of Everyday Life, Sociology of Education, and 14 moreWomen's Studies, Sport, Physical Education, Internet Studies, Modern Turkey, Sociology of the Body, Sociology of Youth, History of Modern Turkey, Cyberspace, Gençlik, Youth Culture, Youth Subcultures, Gençlik Politikası, and Charles Trippedit
- I am a Professor of Sociology at Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey. I received my PhD degree in Sociology at Ecol... moreI am a Professor of Sociology at Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey. I received my PhD degree in Sociology at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris, France in 2005. I teach courses on sociology of youth, social movements, political sociology and globalization.
My research focuses on the political participation of young people in Turkey (in comparison with European and Middle Eastern young generation). I am the author of Türkiye’de “Gençlik Miti”: 1980 Sonrası Türkiye Gençliği (The “myth of youth” in Turkey: The post-1980 youth in Turkey) (İletişim Yayınları, 2009; 2013; 2014) which deals with the question of the political “apathy” of the post-1980 generation in comparative perspective with the previous generations of modern Turkey. I argue that “youth” and “generation” are among the key concepts for understanding modern Turkey. I am also the co-editor of an edited volume in Turkish as Gençlik Halleri: 2000’li Yıllar Türkiyesi’nde Genç Olmak (The States of Youth: To be young in Turkey of the year 2000s) (Efil Yayınları, 2013). My qualitative studies on young people led me to not only sociology of youth and generation but also to sociology of subcultures and also to sociology of everyday life and gender studies. The active usage of the new information technologies of the young generation also led me to internet studies whereas the intertextuality and the references to the popular culture in political slogans of the young generation in Turkey led me to studies on the popular culture. My research also has a strong historical aspect dealing with the history of youth and history of education (with a special focus on the history of physical education and of the body).
My articles have recently appeared in journals such as Youth & Society, New Perspectives on Turkey, The International Journal of the History of Sport, Cahiers d’Etudes sur la Méditerranée Orientale et le Monde Turco-Iranien (CEMOTI), Grande Europe, EurOrient and Toplum ve Bilim. I also regularly author reports and edited book chapters.
During the fall semester of the academic year 2011-2012 (September 2011-February 2012), I was a postdoctoral research fellow at the International Institute of Social History (IISH) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands where I conducted research on the archives of the institute on the 68 generation of Turkey. The final product of this visit was a book I authored in Turkish: Türkiye'nin 68'i: Bir Kuşağın Sosyolojik Analizi (Turkey's 68: Sociological Analysis of a Generation) (Dipnot Yayınları, 2015). In January 2014, I was a visiting instructor at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris, France. Between 1 May 2015-30 April 2018, I worked as a researcher in a Horizon 2020 project “PARTISPACE: Spaces and Styles of Participation. Formal, non-formal and informal possibilities of young people’s participation in European cities” (www.partispace.eu). On 4 February 2019, I was invited to give a Master Class (MC) on Turkey's 68 at International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC) at Justus-Liebig Universitat, Giessen (see https://www.uni-giessen.de/faculties/gcsc/gcsc/events/semesteroverview/WinterTerm1819/master-classes/mc-lukuslu).edit - François Dubetedit
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Just like other music genres, hip hop music migrates from one part of the world to the other and inevitably takes on different forms along the way. When hip hop culture migrated from the United States to Europe, it remained the music of... more
Just like other music genres, hip hop music migrates from one part of the world to the other and inevitably takes on different forms along the way. When hip hop culture migrated from the United States to Europe, it remained the music of the excluded, mainly as a form of musical expression among migrants groups. With its protest sound, resistant attitude and virile style, it attracts migrant populations from all over Europe, especially within the young populations. However, even with the global transmission of hip hop culture, it would be inappropriate to argue that this culture is adopted globally without any local adaptations. On the contrary, it is crucial to analyze these different adaptations and interpretations of hip hop culture within each distinct cultural and societal context. This is why, as Tony Mitchell argues, “hip hop and rap cannot be viewed simply as an expression of African American culture; it has become a vehicle for global youth affiliations and a tool for reworking local identity all over the world” (Mitchell 2001: 1).
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Gençliğin dinamizmi, her zaman siyasal bir aktör olmaısındaki en önemli etken sayılagelmiştir. 19. yüzyılda Osmanlı toplumunu modernleştirme girişimlerinin de, Cumhuriyet’in inşa döneminin de en gözde siyasal aktörlerinden birisi kabul... more
Gençliğin dinamizmi, her zaman siyasal bir aktör olmaısındaki en önemli etken sayılagelmiştir. 19. yüzyılda Osmanlı toplumunu modernleştirme girişimlerinin de, Cumhuriyet’in inşa döneminin de en gözde siyasal aktörlerinden birisi kabul edilmiştir. 1980’e kadar da bir toplumsal aktör olarak gençlik, kendisine yüklenen sorumluluğun, onun için tarif edilen ve “kurtarma”dan “koruma”ya uzanan tarihsel rolünün çerçevesinde, verili bir durumun tamamlayıcısıdır. Yaratılan “gençlik miti”, 1980 sonrası dönemde yeni neslin zaaflarını, tarihsel ve toplumsal sorumluluktan ne kadar uzak olduğunun tarifinde devreye sokulmuştur. Demet Lüküslü Türkiye’de “Gençlik Miti”nde, yaratılan mitlerin gölgesinde, askerî darbe ve yeni bir iktisadi düzen döneminde yetişmiş gençlerin, kendilerini, toplumu ve dünyayı nasıl gördüğünü hesaba katarak kapsamlı bir tartışmayı devreye sokuyor.
Türkiye’deki 1980 sonrası gençliğini, yeni bir mit yaratmadan ya da küçümsemeden tartışmaya özen gösteriyor.
Türkiye’deki 1980 sonrası gençliğini, yeni bir mit yaratmadan ya da küçümsemeden tartışmaya özen gösteriyor.
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The study of Turkey’s 1968 offers an interesting case, since not only was Turkey a devout NATO ally, as a neighboring country of the Soviet Union during the Cold War era, but also because Turkey consequently found itself experiencing... more
The study of Turkey’s 1968 offers an interesting case, since not
only was Turkey a devout NATO ally, as a neighboring country of
the Soviet Union during the Cold War era, but also because Turkey
consequently found itself experiencing extremes leading to
political polarization and violence in the late 1960s and 1970s.
The 1968 generation in Turkey first emerged as a student
movement focusing on reform within the university system, but
towards the end of the 60s, it evolved into a revolutionary
movement, eventually fighting for the use of revolutionary
violence after the military intervention of 1971. This paper argues
that the dominant discourses of the period, such as the myth of
youth, anti-imperialist, modernist, and developmentalist
discourses, and the martyrdom discourse meld perfectly with a
masculine discourse and underlines the importance of introducing
masculinity studies for a deeper understanding of Turkey’s 1968.
‘Masculinity’ is indeed a keyword for rethinking the 1960s and
1968 generation in Turkey, as well as rethinking the Turkish political culture within which masculine discourse occupies an
important place. In light of the works of Raewyn Connell, who
argues that “gender relations are a major component of social
structure as a whole, and gender politics are among the main
determinants of our collective fate”, it is argued in this paper that
Turkey’s 1968 cannot be understood without “constantly moving
towards gender (1995:76)”. The paper discusses how the Turkish
1968 student movement did not only instrumentalize a masculine
discourse but also that it is possible to observe a war of
masculinities. Turkey’s 1968 generation’s masculinity was
constructed in relation to the colonial masculinity of the United
States as symbolized by the demonstrations against the Six Fleet
of the US navy in Istanbul.
only was Turkey a devout NATO ally, as a neighboring country of
the Soviet Union during the Cold War era, but also because Turkey
consequently found itself experiencing extremes leading to
political polarization and violence in the late 1960s and 1970s.
The 1968 generation in Turkey first emerged as a student
movement focusing on reform within the university system, but
towards the end of the 60s, it evolved into a revolutionary
movement, eventually fighting for the use of revolutionary
violence after the military intervention of 1971. This paper argues
that the dominant discourses of the period, such as the myth of
youth, anti-imperialist, modernist, and developmentalist
discourses, and the martyrdom discourse meld perfectly with a
masculine discourse and underlines the importance of introducing
masculinity studies for a deeper understanding of Turkey’s 1968.
‘Masculinity’ is indeed a keyword for rethinking the 1960s and
1968 generation in Turkey, as well as rethinking the Turkish political culture within which masculine discourse occupies an
important place. In light of the works of Raewyn Connell, who
argues that “gender relations are a major component of social
structure as a whole, and gender politics are among the main
determinants of our collective fate”, it is argued in this paper that
Turkey’s 1968 cannot be understood without “constantly moving
towards gender (1995:76)”. The paper discusses how the Turkish
1968 student movement did not only instrumentalize a masculine
discourse but also that it is possible to observe a war of
masculinities. Turkey’s 1968 generation’s masculinity was
constructed in relation to the colonial masculinity of the United
States as symbolized by the demonstrations against the Six Fleet
of the US navy in Istanbul.
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This article problematizes the assumption that national policies have a direct impact on youth participation at the local level and analyses the relationships between local forms of youth participation and local and national policies.... more
This article problematizes the assumption that national policies have a direct impact on youth participation at the local level and analyses the relationships between local forms of youth participation and local and national policies. Relying on data from a EU project funded under the HORIZON 2020 programme, the article focuses on formally institutionalized settings of youth participation and elaborates local constellations of youth participation in six European cities. These constellations may be referred to as regimes of youth participation as they reflect wider structures of power and knowledge that influence the way in which young people’s practices in public spaces and their claims of being part of society are recognized. However, the analysis reveals that rather deducing it from the model of welfare regimes, such a typology needs to be developed starting from the local level and should consider the ways in which different relationships between local youth policies and national welfare states affect youth participation.
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Youth councils, youth parliaments or youth organisations are often referred to as the king’s road to young people’s participation, at least from the point of view of policymakers. At the same time, there is evidence that many young people... more
Youth councils, youth parliaments or youth organisations are often referred to as the king’s road to young people’s participation, at least from the point of view of policymakers. At the same time, there is evidence that many young people are either uninformed about or sceptical of institutionalised forms of youth participation as they distrust institutions in general. This article is interested in understanding why some young people actually engage in those institutionalised forms of youth participation that most of their peers assess as being ineffective and irrelevant for their needs and interests. Based on qualitative interviews with young people involved in different forms of participation in the context of a European research project, we take a biographical approach aimed at reconstructing what makes young people interested in getting and staying involved with youth councils, youth parliaments and/or youth organisations. The aim is, on the one hand, to analyse the different biographical pathways that lead young people into formal engagement as youth representatives. On the other hand, this article draws on a reconstructive analysis of the life stories of young people who engage in formal participation to elaborate the key dimensions and constellations that can be reconstructed from their participation biographies.
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The International Labour Organization (ILO) has warned of young workers facing a dangerous mix of high unemployment, increased inactivity and precarious work in developed countries, as well as persistently high working poverty in the... more
The International Labour Organization (ILO) has warned of young workers facing a dangerous mix of high unemployment, increased inactivity and precarious work in developed countries, as well as persistently high working poverty in the developing world. Living in a developing country, Turkey’s young population experiences similar problems with unemployment and the transition to the labour market. Officially unemployment stood at nearly 11% in the first quarter of 2018 and the rate of youth unemployment was higher than twice the average of OECD countries – although the number of young people in higher education skyrocketed. However, the present troubles of Turkey’s youth in the labour market leave many of them questioning the meaning of acquiring an education, as well as the efficiency of the education system itself. It is common knowledge that higher education graduates in the 20–24 age group are more likely to be unemployed than adults who have lesser qualifications and young women are affected worst. Any effort to address the issue will need to draw on our understanding of various factors like labour market structure, demography, gender, and migration dynamics underlying unemployment and labour relations in Turkey today. This article evaluates these factors with a view to assessing their impact on the young generation of Turkey and shed light on youth unemployment and labour issues in the country.
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Inspired by Fiske’s argument about the political potential of popular culture, this article reads three Turkish television series Leyla ile Mecnun (Leyla and Mecnun), Ben de Özledim (I Missed You Too), and Beş Kardeş (Five Brothers) and... more
Inspired by Fiske’s argument about the political potential of popular culture, this article reads three Turkish television series Leyla ile Mecnun (Leyla and Mecnun), Ben de Özledim (I Missed You Too), and Beş Kardeş (Five Brothers) and discusses their political potential. These three TV series, directed by the same director and featuring the same main cast, can also be read as “one” TV series instead of three totally different ones. It is argued here that these three TV series have close links with each other and created a close contact with the viewers. This is a series that sends a “wink” to the viewers, making it possible to observe the interrelationship between the text, the producer and the audience. Secondly, this article discusses how these TV series resist the dominant systems (both the political system and that of the ratings of the TV world) and demonstrate the potential of TV series to become a force of opposition.
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Youth work is a very recent field in Turkey and the evolution of the field has been very much influenced by the European institutions, especially with the European Union candidacy process of Turkey. Youth work in Turkey can be analyzed in... more
Youth work is a very recent field in Turkey and the evolution of the field has been very much influenced by the European institutions, especially with the European Union candidacy process of Turkey. Youth work in Turkey can be analyzed in three different layers since the central government, local government (municipalities) and civil society organization all have youth work activities. During our Horizon 2020 PARTISPACE research project, we conducted ethnographic research to shed light on the local characteristics of youth work in a central Anatolian city in Turkey. The cases we discuss in the scope of this paper based on our ethnographic research includes two youth centers, one run by a central government agency, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the other by a local municipality run by the party of opposition. The study reveals the influence of local dynamics and political competition in the development of youth policy and youth work. Our research demonstrates that, even if youth work is not a priority in the public policy agenda, it has become an object of political competition in Turkey.
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Beden ve beden eğitimi, modernleşme ve milliyetçilik hareketi için önemli bir rol oynamaktadır. Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’ndan Cumhuriyet’e beden eğitiminin kurumsallaşma serüvenini izlemek aynı zamanda modernleşme ve milliyetçilik... more
Beden ve beden eğitimi, modernleşme ve milliyetçilik hareketi için önemli bir rol oynamaktadır. Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’ndan Cumhuriyet’e beden eğitiminin kurumsallaşma serüvenini izlemek aynı zamanda modernleşme ve milliyetçilik hareketinin izlediği yolu takip etmek açısından anlamlıdır. Özellikle Cumhuriyet’le beraber beden ve beden eğitimi, toplumsal dönüşüm projesinin önemli bir ayağı haline gelmiştir. Toplumun beden eğitimi yoluyla dönüştürülmesi projesinin kuramcı ve uygulayıcı olarak mimarı Selim Sırrı Tarcan olmuştur. Bu makale çerçevesinde Selim Sırı Tarcan’ın beden eğitimini kurumsallaştırmak için yaptığı çabalar ve beden eğitimi kuramını Türkiye’de tanıtmak ve yaygınlaştırmak için yazdığı kitaplardan yola çıkarak Cumhuriyet’in yaratmaya çalıştığı toplumsal dönüşüm projesinin beden ve beden eğitimi ayağını incelemeye çalışacağız.
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This article examines the everyday life experiences of young women in Turkey known as ev kızı or “house girls.” The article explores how traditional gender roles and family structure in Turkish society limit their full participation in... more
This article examines the everyday life experiences of young women in Turkey known as ev kızı or “house girls.” The article explores how traditional gender roles and family structure in Turkish society limit their full participation in political, economic, and public life. The study is based on in-depth interviews conducted with a total of 30 young women who are house girls from a district in Istanbul and another district in Ankara. The women interviewed were between the ages of 18 and 24, single, living with their family, and not engaged in full-time education or employment. Historically contextualizing gender-related development in Turkey, the differences in access to full citizenship among two groups of women based on factors including levels of education, rural/urban divide, socialization, adherence to traditional family values of obedience, loyalty to parents, and the like and drawing on quotes from interviews, the article describes the ways that the experiences of house girls are constrained by traditional gendered expectations compared with other women in Turkey. Expectations of house girls includes fulfilling family obligations at home, conforming to specified codes of behavior, remaining virgin until marriage, and not participating in the formal educational system or the labor market. The authors argue that, compared with students or working women, house girls are restricted to the private sphere. This leads them to feel a sense of boredom, low self-worth, lack of economic empowerment, and inability to fully participate in the public sphere of contemporary Turkish society. The authors also underline the gap between youth studies and women’s studies and argue that the study of house girls is well situated for addressing this gap.
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This paper focuses on the everyday life experiences of the post-1980 generation in Turkey- a generation stigmatized for being depoliticized and apathetic. Rather than accepting this stigmatizing view, however, this analysis aims to better... more
This paper focuses on the everyday life experiences of the post-1980 generation in Turkey- a generation stigmatized for being depoliticized and apathetic. Rather than accepting this stigmatizing view, however, this analysis aims to better undestand young people's actual lived experiences. To do so, it adopts the concept of "necessary conformism" developed in previous empirical research. This concept offers an alternative analytical framework that transcends the engaged/disengaged or political/unpolitical dichotomy in young people's social participation. Specifically, the application of this concept reveals that apathetic behavior may actually mask powerful discontent and suffering that can be expressed neither through conventional politics nor open resistance. The necessary conformism of young people, therefore, is not apathetic behavior, but the expression of an underlying discontent and often a hidden agony.
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This paper analyses the television (TV) series, Leyla ile Mecnun (L&M), which was one of the ‘cult’ series of the youth culture in Turkey. The producers of the series, in order to overcome censorship in Turkish television, invented a new... more
This paper analyses the television (TV) series, Leyla ile Mecnun (L&M), which was one of the ‘cult’ series of the youth culture in Turkey. The producers of the series, in order to overcome censorship in Turkish television, invented a new ‘jargon’, which was actively appropriated by the young viewers of the series, and was immersed into the youth culture.
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This paper analyzes the television series, Leyla ile Mecnun (L&M), which had become one of the “cult” series of the youth culture in Turkey and aims to demonstrate the links between the series and the youth culture in Turkey. The study of... more
This paper analyzes the television series, Leyla ile Mecnun (L&M), which had become one of the “cult” series of the youth culture in Turkey and aims to demonstrate the links between the series and the youth culture in Turkey. The study of the television series L&M helps to reconcile the two axes of the conference (“the production of series subject to numerous constraints” and “the ‘imaginary' inspired by Turkish series, representations, symbols and taboos”). First of all, the series is a good example for discussing the production of series under numerous constraints. Since L&M was produced for the public channel, TRT1, the producers of the series had to face the censorship of the channel. Not only the series was produced under the constraint of censorship but also once the TRT officials announced right after the Gezi Park events that they want to end the contract of the series, it was also impossible for the series to find another channel even though it had become one of the cult series of the urban middle class youth culture in Turkey. Not only the difficulties and the constraints of the series is interesting but also the “tactics” used by the series to overcome these difficulties and constraints. In this manner, the paper argues that there is also a link between the “tactics” used by the producers of the TV-series and the characteristics of youth. It is argued that they both use the tactic of “necessary conformism (Lüküslü, 2009; Lüküslü, 2013)”. Instead of entering into direct confrontation with these constraints, the producers chose to transcend them by their creativity instead of resisting openly against them. Concerning the censorship of the usage of the words or images related with alcohol or cigarettes, for example, they chose to name them differently. In other words, they had created a new jargon, the jargon of the series to overcome the rules of the public channel. In fact, it is this jargon as well as the characters of the series that had become very popular in the youth culture. Even though, the series never got high ratings (since the older generations seemed to have difficulty understanding this “absurd” comedy), it had become a cult series of the young generation, series that is not really a phenomenon of the “classic TV” but of “internet” since young people were most of the time watching it online and commenting on it using internet (online dictionaries, facebook, twitter, etc). It is this popularity of the series which turned it into an important image of the Gezi Park in late May and June 2013 as well as its rejection by the public channel.
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In this paper, it is argued that the masculine discourse is one of the dominant discourses of the 68 generation in Turkey. The analysis of this masculine discourse helps to better comprehend not only the 68 generation in Turkey but also... more
In this paper, it is argued that the masculine discourse is one of the dominant discourses of the 68 generation in Turkey. The analysis of this masculine discourse helps to better comprehend not only the 68 generation in Turkey but also the Turkish political culture within which masculine discourse occupies an important place.
The 68 generation in Turkey starting as a student movement- which in time turns into a revolutionary one- melds different discourses (“myth of youth” discourse, anti-imperialist discourse, modernist and developmentalist discourse, “martyrdom” discourse) with a masculine discourse and reaches/gains a certain momentum in late sixties. In Turkish political culture, since the 19th century, there is what I call the “myth of youth (Lüküslü, 2009)” in which young people play an active role in the political space as the “vanguards” of the State. In the sixties, youth acts in line with this myth of youth and is mobilized in order to “save the honor of the nation”. Saving the nation passes through an anti-imperialist discourse during this Cold War era and takes its form in particular in the demonstrations against the 6th fleet of the US navy and joins with a developmentalist discourse in which imperialism is accused of the underdevelopment of the society. With the death of Vedat Demircioğlu, after the demonstrations against the fleet with an operation of the police to the Istanbul Technical University dormitory, Vedat Demircioğlu becomes the first “martyr” of the 68 generation in Turkey and begins a discourse of “martyrdom”. All these discourses melds with a masculine one and the nation’s honor becomes “men’s honor”. I argue that the concept of “hegemonic masculinity” of Connell can be used to understand the melding of the theme of the honor of the nation with a masculine discourse as well as comprehending the dominant discussions in the Turkish political culture of the period.
The 68 generation in Turkey starting as a student movement- which in time turns into a revolutionary one- melds different discourses (“myth of youth” discourse, anti-imperialist discourse, modernist and developmentalist discourse, “martyrdom” discourse) with a masculine discourse and reaches/gains a certain momentum in late sixties. In Turkish political culture, since the 19th century, there is what I call the “myth of youth (Lüküslü, 2009)” in which young people play an active role in the political space as the “vanguards” of the State. In the sixties, youth acts in line with this myth of youth and is mobilized in order to “save the honor of the nation”. Saving the nation passes through an anti-imperialist discourse during this Cold War era and takes its form in particular in the demonstrations against the 6th fleet of the US navy and joins with a developmentalist discourse in which imperialism is accused of the underdevelopment of the society. With the death of Vedat Demircioğlu, after the demonstrations against the fleet with an operation of the police to the Istanbul Technical University dormitory, Vedat Demircioğlu becomes the first “martyr” of the 68 generation in Turkey and begins a discourse of “martyrdom”. All these discourses melds with a masculine one and the nation’s honor becomes “men’s honor”. I argue that the concept of “hegemonic masculinity” of Connell can be used to understand the melding of the theme of the honor of the nation with a masculine discourse as well as comprehending the dominant discussions in the Turkish political culture of the period.
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This paper focuses on the everyday life experiences of the post-1980 generation in Turkey–a generation stigmatized for being depoliticized and apathetic. Rather than accepting this stigmatizing view, however, this analysis aims to better... more
This paper focuses on the everyday life experiences of the post-1980 generation in Turkey–a generation stigmatized for being depoliticized and apathetic. Rather than accepting this stigmatizing view, however, this analysis aims to better understand young people's actual lived experiences. To do so, it adopts the concept of “necessary conformism” developed in previous empirical research. This concept offers an alternative analytical framework that transcends the engaged/disengaged or political/ unpolitical dichotomy in young people's social participation. Specifically, the application of this concept reveals that apathetic behavior may actually mask powerful discontent and suffering that can be expressed neither through conventional politics nor open resistance. The necessary conformism of young people, therefore, is not apathetic behavior, but the expression of an underlying discontent and often a hidden agony.
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This article problematizes the assumption that national policies have a direct impact on youth participation at the local level and analyses the relationships between local forms of youth participation and local and national policies.... more
This article problematizes the assumption that national policies have a direct impact on youth participation at the local level and analyses the relationships between local forms of youth participation and local and national policies. Relying on data from a EU project funded under the HORIZON 2020 programme, the article focuses on formally institutionalized settings of youth participation and elaborates local constellations of youth participation in six European cities. These constellations may be referred to as regimes of youth participation as they reflect wider structures of power and knowledge that influence the way in which young people’s practices in public spaces and their claims of being part of society are recognized. However, the analysis reveals that rather deducing it from the model of welfare regimes, such a typology needs to be developed starting from the local level and should consider the ways in which different relationships between local youth policies and national...
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This paper analyses the television (TV) series, Leyla ile Mecnun (L&M), which was one of the "cult" series of the youth culture in Turkey. The producers of the series, in order to overcome censorship in Turkish television,... more
This paper analyses the television (TV) series, Leyla ile Mecnun (L&M), which was one of the "cult" series of the youth culture in Turkey. The producers of the series, in order to overcome censorship in Turkish television, invented a new "jargon", which was actively appropriated by the young viewers of the series, and was immersed into the youth culture.
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Young people’s participation—or lack thereof—has been an area of broad debate in youth policy in recent decades. A key argument is that young people’s participation is seen as vital for the future of democracy (as young people are seen as... more
Young people’s participation—or lack thereof—has been an area of broad debate in youth policy in recent decades. A key argument is that young people’s participation is seen as vital for the future of democracy (as young people are seen as the future of societies) and that youth policies need to establish youth representation structures where young people learn democratic citizenship like youth councils or youth parliaments. However, there is some ambivalence associated with such forms of participation. On the one hand, only a minority of young people seem to consider them a ‘real’ opportunity for influence, while, on the other hand, analysis has revealed the paternalistic structures of such adult-led youth participation. Both require and contribute to the reproduction of a specific adult citizenship habitus. Indeed, some young people participate in youth representation which we refer to as ‘formal participation’. The aim of this paper is to understand why and how these young people ...
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Turkey has the highest proportion of young people not in employment, education, or training (NEET) among OECD countries, standing at 26 percent of all those aged 15–29 years. Notably, however, a yo...
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Abstract This article addresses the youth and education policies of the Turkey’s third Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) government from 2011 to 2014. This government period was marked by the emergence of a... more
Abstract This article addresses the youth and education policies of the Turkey’s third Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) government from 2011 to 2014. This government period was marked by the emergence of a new myth of youth in Turkey: the myth of a pious generation, aimed at replacing the previous myth of a modern and national youth, prevalent in Turkey’s political culture since the nineteenth century and reinforced by the Kemalist Republic. The article first situates the education and youth policies of the AKP in the history of youth in Turkey and discusses the continuities and ruptures between the Kemalist and AKP youth projects. Secondly, through a critical reading of the political discourses of AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and of specific youth and education policies of the government, the paper conceptualizes this newly emerging myth in the context of neoliberal economic and conservative social policies of the AKP government and its aim to control the future through reshaping the young.
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La generation post-1980 marque-t-elle une rupture dans l'histoire de la jeunesse en Turquie? Cette generation sonne, en effet, la fin du "mythe de la jeunesse", mythe qui prend ses sources dans le mouvement Jeune Turc du... more
La generation post-1980 marque-t-elle une rupture dans l'histoire de la jeunesse en Turquie? Cette generation sonne, en effet, la fin du "mythe de la jeunesse", mythe qui prend ses sources dans le mouvement Jeune Turc du 19eme siecle et qui sera repris par la Republique turque. Contrairement aux deux precedentes generations, la jeunesse post-1980 s'interesse peu a la politique ce qui conduit les intellectuels turcs a definir hâtivement cette generation comme etant apolitique, et les jeunes comme etant des "enfants du coup d'etat" ou les "enfants du liberalisme". A la lumiere d'une etude de l'histoire de la Turquie contemporaine, nous proposons une analyse tri-generationnelle de la jeunesse turque, l'accent etant surtout mis sur la generation post-1980. En nous basant sur des etudes quantitatives et sur nos 80 entretiens semi-directifs aupres de jeunes de 18 a 25 ans, nous avons cherche a comprendre leurs experiences et leur vecu.
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ABSTRACT This article discusses the role of Selim Sırrı Tarcan in the emergence of physical education in Turkey, which was an important component of the modernisation project of the Republic. Selim Sırrı Tarcan was a devoted moderniser... more
ABSTRACT This article discusses the role of Selim Sırrı Tarcan in the emergence of physical education in Turkey, which was an important component of the modernisation project of the Republic. Selim Sırrı Tarcan was a devoted moderniser who contributed to this process with his works and ideas in the field of physical education, a political project for the creation of strong and healthy citizens of the newly established nation-state. To analyse his contribution, we first establish the longer historical context that allows us to understand the development of modern education as a tool for shaping young generations. Second, we will focus on portions of Selim Sırrı Tarcan's biography for understanding the emergence of modern physical education and conclude by analysing his contributions to develop the archetype of healthy young citizens through modern physical education.
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This paper focuses on the everyday life experiences of the post-1980 generation in Turkey- a generation stigmatized for being depoliticized and apathetic. Rather than accepting this stigmatizing view, however, this analysis aims to better... more
This paper focuses on the everyday life experiences of the post-1980 generation in Turkey- a generation stigmatized for being depoliticized and apathetic. Rather than accepting this stigmatizing view, however, this analysis aims to better undestand young people's actual lived experiences. To do so, it adopts the concept of "necessary conformism" developed in previous empirical research. This concept offers an alternative analytical framework that transcends the engaged/disengaged or political/unpolitical dichotomy in young people's social participation. Specifically, the application of this concept reveals that apathetic behavior may actually mask powerful discontent and suffering that can be expressed neither through conventional politics nor open resistance. The necessary conformism of young people, therefore, is not apathetic behavior, but the expression of an underlying discontent and often a hidden agony.
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"Gençliğin dinamizmi, her zaman siyasal bir aktör olmaısındaki en önemli etken sayılagelmiştir. 19. yüzyılda Osmanlı toplumunu modernleştirme girişimlerinin de, Cumhuriyet’in inşa döneminin de en gözde siyasal aktörlerinden birisi... more
"Gençliğin dinamizmi, her zaman siyasal bir aktör olmaısındaki en önemli etken sayılagelmiştir. 19. yüzyılda Osmanlı toplumunu modernleştirme girişimlerinin de, Cumhuriyet’in inşa döneminin de en gözde siyasal aktörlerinden birisi kabul edilmiştir. 1980’e kadar da bir toplumsal aktör olarak gençlik, kendisine yüklenen sorumluluğun, onun için tarif edilen ve “kurtarma”dan “koruma”ya uzanan tarihsel rolünün çerçevesinde, verili bir durumun tamamlayıcısıdır. Yaratılan “gençlik miti”, 1980 sonrası dönemde yeni neslin zaaflarını, tarihsel ve toplumsal sorumluluktan ne kadar uzak olduğunun tarifinde devreye sokulmuştur. Demet Lüküslü Türkiye’de “Gençlik Miti”nde, yaratılan mitlerin gölgesinde, askerî darbe ve yeni bir iktisadi düzen döneminde yetişmiş gençlerin, kendilerini, toplumu ve dünyayı nasıl gördüğünü hesaba katarak kapsamlı bir tartışmayı devreye sokuyor. Türkiye’deki 1980 sonrası gençliğini, yeni bir mit yaratmadan ya da küçümsemeden tartışmaya özen gösteriyor."
This article examines the everyday life experiences of young women in Turkey known as ev kızı or house girls. The article explores how traditional gender roles and family structure in Turkish society limit their full participation in... more
This article examines the everyday life experiences of young women in Turkey known as ev kızı or house girls. The article explores how traditional gender roles and family structure in Turkish society limit their full participation in political, economic, and public life. The ...