The Problem of Modernity and Identity in Turkey

What does a study of modernity, not from the point of
view of official or high discourses or from the real conditions, but from the point of view of carnivalesque forms of popular culture tell us? How
do the representations in low discourses articulate
the power relations taken place in modern urban
space? Humour magazines in Turkey, far from being
just an escapist form of entertainment, have a long
history and almost always politically charged. A
study of popular humour magazines in Turkey shows us
both how the official-dominant discourses are
demystified and subverted but also the way the power
struggles operate through tastes, sexualities and
gendered bodies. This study through an analysis of
the representations of a popular humour magazine in
the early 1990 s context, shows that under the main
overriding theme of the duality of essence and appearance , modernity is signified as a
masquerade and a stake in the power struggles. And
bodies, sexuality and masculinity become the nodal
points and main spaces through which not only of
identity struggles of the social groups but also of
Turkish nation are represented.

Autorentext
Gökçen Ertugrul is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Mugla, Turkey.

Klappentext
What does a study of modernity, not from the point of view of official or "high" discourses or from the "real" conditions, but from the point of view of "carnivalesque" forms of popular culture tell us? How do the representations in "low" discourses articulate the power relations taken place in modern urban space? Humour magazines in Turkey, far from being just an escapist form of entertainment, have a long history and almost always politically charged. A study of popular humour magazines in Turkey shows us both how the official-dominant discourses are demystified and subverted but also the way the power struggles operate through tastes, sexualities and gendered bodies. This study through an analysis of the representations of a popular humour magazine in the early 1990's context, shows that under the main overriding theme of the duality of "essence" and "appearance", "modernity" is signified as a masquerade and a stake in the power struggles. And bodies, sexuality and masculinity become the nodal points and main spaces through which not only of identity struggles of the social groups but also of Turkish nation are represented.