Counter-authoritarian politics in digital platforms in Turkey

This project will investigate how progressive discourses and counter-authoritarian politicsare produced in the Turkish digital landscape against the backdrop of political polarization,authoritarian pressures, and online policing.Furthermore, structural complications ofplatforms that feed echo chambers, fragmentation, and non-democratic forms ofcommunication will be considered. The study will concentrate on the circulation of discourses and exchangescentered on prominent sites of contestation and activism in contemporary Turkey, including but not limited to feminist and labour politics, and social movements.

In addition to addressing the complexities and complications of online activism, thisstudy will delve into the new configurations and possibilities of democratic imagination andcollective action that digital platforms may enable. To examine the microprocesses of political communicationand mobilization, theproject will expand on the concepts of network subjectivity, affective labor,and digital political labour. Besides, it will consider the broader political economy ofauthoritarian neoliberalism in Turkey and the negotiations between state elites and platformcompanies with the purposes of increasing the political control over platforms and securingmarket interests. In this research, multiple methods will be deployed including digitalethnography, in-depth interviews with digital content producers/ activists, and policy analysis.