You are invited to the lecture Piety on Screen. Increasing presentation of religion in Turkish television series by Petra de Bruijn (Leiden University) on March 6, 2024, at 18.30 at Anamed Auditorium. 

Since the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP) governs Turkey, religiosity has become more visible in mainstream television series. In general, the representation of religion in Turkish television series was mainly restricted to the series broadcasted by Samanyolu (Milkyway), the channel related to the Gülen movement. This changed, and presenting characters with a pious lifestyle occurs more often. This lecture will briefly explain the embedding of this development in Türkiye’s socio-political history. It will supply a short overview of the development towards the presentation of religiosity in television drama and then zoom in on three case studies. I will discuss how the Netflix series Bir Başkadır (Ethos, 2020), Kızılcık Şerbeti (Cranberry Sorbet, 2022-2023) broadcasted on the mainstream private channel Show TV, and the TRT 1 series Yedi Güzel Adam (Seven Nice Men, 2014-2015) depict religion and the secular-religious opposition in Turkish society.

Image: Bir Başkadır (Ethos, 2020) season 1, episode 1. Netflix.