Abstract
The main goal of this chapter is to understand right-wing populism and troll-science discourses on gender under the public normative order of the current AKP (Justice and Development Party) government. For this I focus on articles published in KADEM Kadın Arasṃtırmaları Dergisi (Journal of Women’s Studies), a pro-government, peer-reviewed so-called academic journal that publishes research on gender and women’s studies. The assumption here is that, the right-wing populist ideologies introduced under the New Turkey has created alternative troll-science discourses within academia, supporting the anti-gender development in Turkey. I show how such troll-science that spread fake information are connoted with religious arguments, such as creationism, and emotionally loaded ideologies that facilitate their easy acceptance in certain circles: in this specific case, ideologically conservative ones.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
http://kadem.org.tr/kadem-hakkinda/. Accessed on 4.11.2019.
- 2.
https://www.nature.com/news/2009/090310/full/news.2009.150.html Accessed on 4.11.2019.
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/erdogan-en-az-uc-cocuk-dogurun-8401981. Accessed on 20.04.2020.
- 6.
https://www.milliyet.com.tr/siyaset/evlilik-konusunda-cok-secici-olmayin-1913996. Accessed on 20.04.2020.
- 7.
In Europe this is achieved through attacks on gender research and gender studies programmes within universities. The Central European University in Hungary, where Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban banned the gender studies programme, provides a telling example.
- 8.
http://kadem.org.tr/kadem-hakkinda/. Accessed on 4.11.2019.
- 9.
KADEM mission statement.
- 10.
- 11.
Guardian (2014). Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: “Women not equal to men”. Available online at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/24/turkeys-president-recep-tayyip-erdogan-women-not-equal-men. Accessed on 12.05.2021.
- 12.
https://www.amazon.com/Lexicon-Ambiguous-Debatable-Regarding-Questions/dp/1559220503. Accessed on 08.11.2019.
- 13.
NTV (2009) Erdoğan: İş işten geçmeden en az 3 çocuk [Erdoğan: Before it is too late at least 3 Children]. Available online at, http://www.ntv.com.tr/turkiye/erdogan-is-isten-gecmeden-en-az-3-cocuk,ZEQhCeWHVkS06lEDhd72Ng. Accessed 7 June 2019.
References
Albayrak, Şule. 2015. Editorial Notes. KADEM Kadın Araştırmaları Dergisi KADEM Journal of Women’s Studies 2: 2 (Dec.).
Alzamora Revoredo, Oscar. 2003. An Ideology of Gender: Dangers and Scope. In Lexicon: Ambiguous and Debatable Terms Regarding Family Life And Ethical Questions, Pontifical Council for the Family, ed. Joseph Meaney, 465–482. Virginia: Human Life International.
Ayhan, Tutku. 2019. KADEM’s ‘Gender Justice’ or the Momentum of Anti-genderism in Turkey. Accessed 15 October 2020. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/gender/2019/04/29/kadems-gender-justice-in-turkey/.
Burul, Yeşim and Hande Eslen-Ziya. 2018. Understanding ‘New Turkey’ Through Women’s Eyes: Gender Politics in Turkish Daytime Talk Shows. Middle East Critique 27 (2): 179–192.
———. 2020. Understanding ‘New Turkey’ through Women’s Eyes: Gender Politics in Turkish Daytime Talk Shows. In Media and Politics in the Southern Mediterranean: Communicating Power in Transition after 2011, ed. Roxane Farmanfarmaian, 300–314. London: Routledge.
Çakar, Nigar Demircan. 2014. Neden Toplumsal Cinsiyet Adaleti? [Why Social Gender Justice?]. KADEM Kadın Araştırmaları Dergisi KADEM Journal of Women’s Studies. Accessed 12 May 2021. http://kadem.org.tr/neden-toplumsal-cinsiyet-adaleti/.
Cebeci, Münevver. 2016. De-Europeanisation or Counter-conduct? Turkey’s Democratisation and the EU. South European Society and Politics 21 (1): 119–132.
Corredor, Elizabeth S. 2019. Unpacking ‘Gender Ideology’ and The Global Right’s Antigender Countermovement. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 44 (3): 613–638.
Coşar, Simten and Metin Yeğenoğlu. 2011. New Grounds for Patriarchy in Turkey? Gender Policy in the age of AKP. South European Society and Politics 16 (4): 555–573.
Davis, M. 2019. Globalist War against Humanity Shifts into High Gear: Online Anti-vaccination Websites and ‘Anti-public’ Discourse. Public Understanding of Science 28 (3): 357–371.
Edis, Taner. 2019. Cosmic Conspiracy Theories: How Theologies Evade Science. In Theology and Science: From Genesis to Astrobiology, ed. Richard Gordon and Joseph Seckbach, 143–165. Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific.
———. 2000. The Rationality of an Illusion. The Humanist 60 (4): 28.
———. 2020. A Revolt Against Expertise: Pseudoscience, Right-Wing Populism, and Post-Truth Politics. Disputatio 9 (13): 1–29.
Elçi, Ezgi. 2019. The Rise of Populism in Turkey: A Content Analysis. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 19 (3): 387–408.
Eslen-Ziya, Hande. 2019. Right-wing Populism in New Turkey: Leading to all New Grounds for Troll-science in Gender Theory. Paper presented in Populism, Religion and Gender: Tensions and Entanglements Workshop. University of Bergamo, 4–5 December 2019.
———. 2020. Right-wing Populism in New Turkey: Leading to all New Grounds for Troll-science in Gender Theory. HTS: Theological Studies [special issue Gender, Justice, Health and Human Development]. 76 (3): 1–9.
———. 2022. Knowledge, Counter-knowledge, Pseudo-science in Populism. In Populism and Science in Europe. (Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology), ed. Hande Eslen–Ziya and Alberta Giorgi. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Eslen-Ziya, Hande and Itir Erhart. 2015. Towards Post-heroic Leadership: A Case Study of Gezi’s Collaborating Multiple Leaders. Leadership and Authority in a Crises-constructing World Leadership. 11 (4): 471–488.
Eslen-Ziya, Hande, Aidan McGarry, Olu Jenzen, Itir Erhart and Umut Korkut. 2019. From Anger to Solidarity: The Emotional Echo-chamber of Gezi Park Protests. Emotion, Space and Society. 33: 100632.
Giorgi, Alberta and Hande Eslen-Ziya. 2022. Populism and Science in Europe. In Populism and Science in Europe (Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology) ed. Hande Eslen–Ziya and Alberta Giorgi. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kandiyoti, Deniz. 2016. Locating the Politics of Gender: Patriarchy, Neo-liberal Governance and Violence in Turkey. Research and Policy on Turkey 1 (2): 103–118.
Kardas, Şaban. 2008. Turkey under the Justice and Development Party: Between Transformation of ‘Islamism’and Democratic Consolidation? Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies 17 (2): 175–187.
Keyman, E. Fuat. 2014. The AK Party: Dominant Party, New Turkey and Polarization. Insight Turkey 16 (2): 19.
Korkman, Zeynep Kurtuluş. 2016. Politics of Intimacy in Turkey: A Distraction from ‘Real’ Politics? Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies 12 (1): 112–121.
Korkut, Umut and Hande Eslen-Ziya. 2011. The Impact of Conservative Discourses in Family Policies, Population Politics, and Gender Rights in Poland and Turkey. Social Politics 18 (3): 387–418.
———. 2016. The Discursive Governance of Population Politics: The Evolution of a Pro-birth Regime in Turkey. Social Politics. International Studies in Gender, State & Society 23 (4): 555–575.
———. 2018. Politics and Gender Identity in Turkey: Centralised Islam for Socio-Economic Control (Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern Politics). London and New York: Routledge.
Kuhar, Roman. 2015. Playing with Science: Sexual Citizenship and the Roman Catholic Church Counter-narratives in Slovenia and Croatia. Women’s Studies International Forum 49: 84–92.
Kuhar, Roman and Aleš Zobec. 2017. The Anti-gender Movement in Europe and the Educational Process in Public Schools. CEPS Journal 7 (2): 29–46.
Mede, N.G and M.S. Schäfer. 2020. Science-related Populism: Conceptualizing Populist Demands toward Science. Public Understanding of Science 29 (5): 473–491.
Merkley, Eric. 2020. Anti-intellectualism, Populism, and Motivated Resistance to Expert Consensus. Public Opinion Quarterly 84 (1): 24–48.
Motta, Matthew. 2018. The Dynamics and Political Implications of Anti-intellectualism in the United States. American Politics Research 46 (3): 465–498.
Mudde, Cas and Cistóbal Rovira Kaltwasser. 2013. Exclusionary vs. Inclusionary Populism: Comparing Contemporary Europe and Latin America. Government and Opposition 48 (2): 147–174.
———. 2018. Studying Populism in Comparative Perspective. Comparative Political Studies 51 (13): 1667–1693.
Oliver, J. Eric and Wendy M. Rahn. 2016. Rise of the Trumpenvolk: Populism in the 2016 Election. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 667 (1): 189–206.
Patton, Marcie J. 2007. AKP Reform Fatigue in Turkey: What Has Happened to the EU Process? Mediterranean Politics 12 (3): 339–358.
Pro Familia, Pontificium Consilium. 2003. Lexicon: Ambiguous and Debatable Terms Regarding Family Life and Ethical Questions. Bologna: Edizioni Dehoniane.
Rigney, Daniel. 1991. Three Kinds of Anti‐intellectualism: Rethinking Hofstadter. Sociological Inquiry 61 (4): 434–451.
Saraçoğlu, Cenk and Özhan Demirkol. 2015. Nationalism and Foreign Policy Discourse in Turkey under the AKP Rule: Geography, History and National Identity. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 42 (3): 301–319.
Sayin, Ümit and Aykut Kence. 1999. Islamic Scientific Creationism: A New Challenge in Turkey. Reports of the National Center for Science Education 19 (6): 18–20.
Selçuk, Orçun. 2016. Strong Presidents and Weak Institutions: Populism in Turkey, Venezuela and Ecuador. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 16 (4): 571–589.
Szabados, Krisztian. 2019. Can We Win the War on Science? Understanding the Link between Political Populism and Anti-Science Politics. Populism 2 (2): 207–236.
Tekin, Mustafa. 2017. Gender and Justice from the Deconstruction to Reconstruction. In International Social Gender Justice Congress: Women and Family. Istanbul: KADEM.
Toker, İhsan. 2009. Eşitlik ve Adalet Kavramları Çerçevesinde Müslüman Kadınlarda Toplumsal Cinsiyet Örüntüleri. Ankara Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi 1 (1): 142–165.
Williamson, Timothy. 2019. In the Post-truth World, We Need to Remember the Philosophy of Science. Accessed 12 May 2021. https://www.newstatesman.com/2019/01/post-truth-world-we-need-remember-philosophy-science.
Yabancı, Bilge. 2016. Populism as the Problem Child of Democracy: The AKP’s Enduring Appeal and the Use of Meso-level Actors. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 16 (4): 591–617.
Yazıcı, Berna. 2012. The Return to the Family: Welfare, State and Politics of the Family in Turkey. Anthropological Quarterly 85 (1): 103–140.
Yılmaz, E. Sare Aydın. 2014. Eşitlik Üstü Adalet [Justice above Equality]. Kadın ve Demokrasi Derneği, 13 December 2014.
———. 2015. Kadın Hareketinde Yeni Bir İvme: Toplumsal Cinsiyet Adaleti. Turkish Policy Quarterly. 13 (4): 107–115.
Ylä-Anttila, Tuukka. 2018. Populist Knowledge: ‘Post-truth’ Repertoires of Contesting Epistemic Authorities. European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology 5 (4): 356–388.
Zihnioglu, Ozge. 2013. European Union Civil Society Policy and Turkey: A Bridge Too Far? London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Eslen-Ziya, H. (2023). Post-truth and Anti-science in Turkey: Putting It into Perspective. In: Raudvere, C., Onur, P. (eds) Neo-Ottoman Imaginaries in Contemporary Turkey. Modernity, Memory and Identity in South-East Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08023-4_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08023-4_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-08022-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-08023-4
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)