Popular culture: Resurrection of Ottoman Nostalgia

Abstract

This chapter illustrates the transformation of Turkish popular culture as a part of prosthetic neo-Ottomanist memory construction. Ottoman nostalgia, which is a remarkable representation of imaginary stories, has increased over the last decade. Prosthetic memory becomes part of one's personal archive of experience and is experienced with one's own body by means of a wide range of cultural technologies. The relationship between memory and mass culture is motivated by exposure to messages conveyed by the mass media and TV series made in Turkey with a specific reference to the glorification of the Ottoman past redefining the relationship between history and memory. This chapter examines the role of Turkish popular culture on the revival of Ottoman Nostalgia in Turkey by focusing on Ottoman-themed Turkish television dramas. © 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.