Abstract
My research deals with alcohol consumption among Turkish people, which has been growingly controversial since the conservative Justice and Development came into power in 2002. Consumption of alcohol in Muslim majority Turkey is tied to the secular Modern Turkish identity established with the founding of the Republic in 1924. The Justice and Development Party’s growingly oppressive regulations on alcohol led citizens and the Turkish diaspora to display their consumption publicly as a form of protest. This is especially evident in social media, where the founder Kemal Ataturk, who was known for his fondness for Raki [a type of liquor made from grapes] is often referenced in people’s social media posts. This everyday act of protest indicates a negotiation between national identity, politics, gender, and religious identity. My research in progress demonstrates that consuming alcohol, and ways of consumption, invoke a sense of nostalgia among consumers for an imagined better past. At this point, my methodology consists of archival research and digital ethnography. I reviewed 20th-century Turkish periodicals to locate the nostalgic sentiment aimed to demonstrate the same notion in social media posts posted by Turkish citizens, and the Turkish diaspora to emphasize their identities while longing for the imagined past that was secular, harmonious while being ethnically and religiously diverse.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Alcohol, Turkey, Protest, Politics, Islam
