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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 (yeraltıedebiyatı) has on influencing the opinions and beliefsof Turkey’s youth regarding issues of contemporary importance. Inorder to understand the relevance of this genre to Turkish youth culture, wehave not only examined the debate surrounding the topic in popular and academiccircles, but also asked the readers themselves their opinions about theirexperience with the genre (in both its imported Western and homegrown Turkishvariants) and its relevance to their lives. For our purposes, theeffect of such texts on readers is the primaryfocus, and ours is the first mixed-media study to conduct a methodological,data-based investigation into the composition and opinions of undergroundliterature’s readers. Thus, our study supplements a lack in theexisting scholarship by offering concrete qualitative and quantitative data thatwill better elucidate our knowledge of the relationship between undergroundliterature and Turkish youth attitudes, as well as the potential the genre mighthold 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 thankFatoş Gökşen, Cem Bico, TanferTunç, Işıl Baş, AhmetBeşe, and Zafer Parlak for their support of this project.This project was funded by a generous grant from the Scientific andTechnological Research Council of Turkey (TürkiyeBilimsel ve Teknolojik AraştırmaKurumu, TÜBİTAK).

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