Turkish Cosmo Girls, Soap Fans and Guitar Heroes
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
TURKISH COSMO GIRLS, SOAP FANS AND GUITAR HEROES: RESISTIVE PLEASURES OF TURKISH WOMEN CONSUMING AND PRODUCING TRANSNATIONAL AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE BY ASLIHAN TOKGÖZ ONARAN B.A., BOĞAZİÇİ UNIVERSITY, 1997 M.A., İSTANBUL UNIVERSITY, 2000 A.M., BROWN UNIVERSITY, 2003 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF AMERICAN CIVILIZATION AT BROWN UNIVERSITY PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND MAY 2010 © Copyright 2010 by Aslıhan Tokgöz Onaran This dissertation by Aslıhan Tokgöz Onaran is accepted in its present form by the Department of American Civilization as satisfying the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date ____________ _____________________________ Susan Smulyan, Advisor Recommended to the Graduate Council Date ____________ _____________________________ Lynne Joyrich, Reader Date ____________ _____________________________ Philip Rosen, Reader Approved by the Graduate Council Date ____________ _____________________________ Sheila Bonde, Dean of the Graduate School iii Vita Aslıhan Tokgöz Onaran was born on December 26, 1976, in Istanbul, Turkey. She received her Bachelor‟s degree in English Education in 1997, in the Department of Foreign Language Education at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul. Prior to her Ph.D. studies, Aslıhan served as Lecturer in English at the Department of Foreign Languages of Doğuş University for three years, during which time she received her Master‟s degree in American Culture and Literature at Istanbul University. She then moved to the United States for her Ph.D. degree in the Department of American Civilization at Brown University under the supervision of Professor Susan Smulyan. Aslıhan‟s research and teaching interests in gender politics and the localized actualizations of global cultures are informed by her subjectivity as a transnational feminist. Throughout her life, Aslıhan has observed, participated in, been intrigued by and critically investigated the multivalent local manifestations of imported cultures such as television shows, women‟s magazines and pop music, particularly in terms of their relationship to gender, sexuality and national identity in Turkey, the United States and beyond. At Brown, Aslıhan‟s graduate studies focused on popular culture studies, “women‟s genres,” theories of globalization, media flows, audience studies and identity politics as well as feminist theory and ethnography. Her preliminary research fields included transnational popular cultures; representation of race, gender and nation in U.S. film, national and “third” cinemas; twentieth century American literature with a focus on ethnic and women‟s literatures; and, Feminist and Postcolonial Studies (with a regional focus on the Middle East). iv Aslıhan Tokgöz Onaran is currently Lecturer in Screen Studies at the Screen Studies Program of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at Clark University, MA, where she teaches interdisciplinary courses on critical theory, world cinemas and global media cultures. Her selected publications include: 1. Forthcoming. “Counterpatriarchal Pleasures of Muslim Turkish Women: A Feminist Ethnography of Rural Women Watching American Daytime Television.” In Gender Justice in the Muslim World, ed. Rogaia M. Abusharaf. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum Press. 2. 2009. “Öteki‟ne Bakış: Batılı ve „Öteki‟ Türk Kimlikleri Arasındaki İlişkinin Amerikan Sinemasında İmgelenmesi” (“Gazing at the Other: Representation of the Relationship Between the West and the Turkish Other in American Cinema”). In Kimlikler Lutfen: Turkiye Cumhuriyeti’nde Kulturel Kimlik Arayisi ve Temsili (“IDs Please: In Search of Cultural Identity and Representation in the Turkish Republic”), ed. Gonul Pultar, 434-447. Ankara, Turkey: Middle Eastern Technical University Publications. 3. 2007. “The Feminist Movement,” “Feminine Mystique,” and “Disney Theme Parks.” In Postwar America, ed. James Ciment. New York: M.E. Sharpe. 4. 2005. Anadolu‟da Kadin, Cinsellik ve Medya (“Women, Sexuality and Media in Anatolia”). Yeni Aktuel 10: 88. 5. 2005. “Turkish American Literature.” In Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature, ed. Emmanuel S. Nelson, 2180-2183. Westport, CT: Greenwood. v 6. 1998. American Adam Under Threat: Revitalization of the Myth of the American Indian in Sherman Alexie's Captivity. Doğuş University Journal 1: 201-212. vi I dedicate this dissertation to my college sweetheart, Burak, my precious son, Berk, and to my dear mother, Münire Baylantahtacı. vii Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without the support from many people: my mentors, colleagues, friends and family. I would like to express my gratitude to these individuals for their contributions to my academic career. I would first like to thank my advisor and dissertation director Professor Susan Smulyan for being an amazing mentor, scholar and teacher. Susan has helped me immeasurably with her exceptional insight and guidance as well as with her continued faith in me throughout my graduate studies. I owe her gratitude for her valuable suggestions along the way and for providing personal and scholarly support whenever she could. I have been lucky to work with an advisor who would offer to „Skype‟ me to discuss my dissertation even when she was on sabbatical at the other end of the world. I am also grateful to my readers, Professor Lynne Joyrich and Professor Philip Rosen, for their time and constructive feedback on my dissertation. I would like to thank Professor Rosen also for our preliminary field studies on national cinemas and for inspiring me, through his seminar, to „historicize‟ theory. I am thankful to Professor Joyrich also for allowing me to sit in on the “Mediated Bodies/Bodies of Mediation” seminar at Brown‟s Pembroke Center. A special thanks to Professor Rogaia M. Abusharaf, my preliminary field advisor in Feminist and Postcolonial Studies, and a great teacher, colleague and friend, for introducing me to the critical study of international feminism, for inviting me to join her Pembroke research seminar, Gender and Traditional Muslim Practices, and for helping me share my research with other scholars. viii I would also like to thank Professor Mutlu K. Blasing for her guidance during my preliminary field studies with her, and for being a role model to me as the only other Turkish Ph.D. graduate in American Civilization at Brown; Professor Jane Gerhard for introducing me to feminist media studies through our conversations during my teaching assistantship in her class; Professor Carol Delaney, for graciously reading a much longer draft of my first chapter, and Professor Suheyla Kırca Schroeder for sharing her research on women‟s magazines with me. I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Robert Coover, one of the foremost American fiction writers and intellectuals, for his continued support before and after I entered Brown. I would like to thank him for continuing to inspire me with his exciting work on digital media and for inviting me to the Brown International Literary Arts Festival to introduce Turkish Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk. I have made wonderful friends during my graduate studies at Brown many of whom are doctors today. I‟d like to thank Dr. Stéphanie F. Larrieux for being an amazing friend, for co-founding our “dissertation chat-and-chew,” for trying all the coffee shops in the area with me, for giving me a hand that time when I had difficulty walking up College Hill with my confused mind of baby names and dissertation titles we had discussed, as well as for the fun times in New Mexico, and the support she has given me throughout Brown and beyond. I have been lucky to be a member of such a great cohort, and am grateful for the friendship of my fellow classmates, Dr. James V. Gatewood, Dr. Mikiko Tachi and Kelli Shapiro. I am especially grateful to Dr. Susanne Wiedeman, a wonderful friend and an excellent scholar and teacher. I can‟t thank her enough for being there for me every step ix of the way, for reading multiple drafts of my chapters, for the „feel good‟ packages, and for flying all to way to Istanbul as my guest of honor. I would also like to thank a special person, Dorte M. Aggergaard, another „European gal,‟ who brightens up any space with her presence, for crossing paths with me and with “Afitap.” Many thanks to Jin Suk Bae, Aiko Takeuchi and Kübra Inkayali for their friendship and “abla/big sister” vibes that my son Berk just loved (and so let me finish this dissertation!); to Jennifer Meeropol, who provided me the balance I needed at times and for the delicious home-made burritos; to Lutfiyah Ahmed for being the best roommate I could have asked for; to Dr. Gill Frank for stimulating intellectual discussions even when I was „wearing‟ Berk; to Tülay and Peter Lawton for their positive energies and endless support without which this dissertation would not be accomplished; to Dr. Bahar Bilgen for her grounded perspective and encouragement as a fellow „AP Mama Ph.D” and Boğaziçi alum; and, to all members of the Gordon family for accepting me and my family as one of their own. I would especially like to express my gratitude to my dearest friend, Karçiçeği Aykurt, whose mere presence and sunshiny voice gave me hope when I most needed it, for always believing in me and in “the spirit of 1976.” Many thanks also go to Maral Ötüken and all members of the Ötüken family for their long-time support; Dr. Balkız Öztürk, a great friend and colleague, for our conversations