Alternative Media: Sustainabiilty, Activism and Resistance

The transformations in alternative media, journalism and social protest in contemporary Turkey have largely occurred due to the upsurge in use of social media.

Some of the most fervent users of social media in the world come from Turkey where forms of social media are frequently banned by the Turkish government. In this presentation Dr. Akser will discuss the structural, economic and political reasons why the current media system fails urban educated young professionals in Turkey and led them to a month long resistance and protest through the use of social media during OccupyGezi movement. During the seminar he will outline the history of alternative media use and the ways in which it has become a tool for the critics of the neoliberal economic system in Turkey. There will also be a methodological discussion on  the study of  social media use within social movements and application of  interdisciplinary approaches and research methods, ranging from cinema and visual arts to sociology, political science, content analysis and ethnographic study.

This seminar presentation will be followed by a discussion. All welcome.

Dr Akser’s edited volume Alternative Media in Contemporary Turkey, co-edited with Ulster Cinematic Arts colleague Dr Victoria McCollum, has just been published by Rowman and Littlefield.