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Underground literature and its influence on youth in Turkey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2015

Erik Mortenson ,
Duygu Ergun  and
Selen Erdoğan
Erik Mortenson
Affiliation:
Department of English Language and Comparative Literature, Koç University, Rumelifeneri Yolu, 34450 Sarıyer, İstanbul, Turkey, EMORTENSON@ku.edu.tr.
Duygu Ergun
Affiliation:
Department of Turkish Language and Literature, Boğaziçi University, 34342 Bebek, İstanbul, Turkey, duygu.ergun20@gmail.com.
Selen Erdoğan
Affiliation:
School of Languages, Sabancı University, Orta Mahalle, Üniversite Caddesi, No: 27, 34956 Tuzla, İstanbul, Turkey, selenerdogan@sabanciuniv.edu.
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Abstract

This paper examines the impact underground literature (yeraltı edebiyatı) has on influencing the opinions and beliefs of Turkey’s youth regarding issues of contemporary importance. In order to understand the relevance of this genre to Turkish youth culture, we have not only examined the debate surrounding the topic in popular and academic circles, but also asked the readers themselves their opinions about their experience with the genre (in both its imported Western and homegrown Turkish variants) and its relevance to their lives. For our purposes, the effect of such texts on readers is the primary focus, and ours is the first mixed-media study to conduct a methodological, data-based investigation into the composition and opinions of underground literature’s readers. Thus, our study supplements a lack in the existing scholarship by offering concrete qualitative and quantitative data that will better elucidate our knowledge of the relationship between underground literature and Turkish youth attitudes, as well as the potential the genre might hold for the future of Turkey’s youth.

Keywords

Underground literatureyouth culturepoliticsethicsreligiongender and sexualityviews toward the West
Type
Articles
Information
New Perspectives on Turkey , Volume 52 , May 2015 , pp. 77 - 104
Copyright
© New Perspectives on Turkey and Cambridge University Press 2015 

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Footnotes

Authors’ Note: We would like to thank Fatoş Gökşen, Cem Bico, Tanfer Tunç, Işıl Baş, Ahmet Beşe, and Zafer Parlak for their support of this project. This project was funded by a generous grant from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu, TÜBİTAK).

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