Open AccessSpeaking of Invasion: Narratives over Arabs in Eksi Sozluk, a Virtual Community in Turkey
Author(s) -
Oguz Zeynep
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
cyberorient
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1804-3194
DOI - 10.1002/j.cyo2.20110502.0002
Subject(s) - narrative , orientalism , fantasy , subjectivity , sociology , aesthetics , hospitality , politics , normative , gender studies , history , media studies , literature , tourism , political science , epistemology , art , philosophy , archaeology , law
Since the day it was founded, Eksi Sozluk (sour dictionary) has been one of the most popular virtual communities in Turkey, fostering cultural and political discussions and acting as a public sphere. This paper examines contested narratives of hostility and hospitality over Arabs in Eksi Sozluk in order to trace the making of subjectivities in Turkey. I illustrate the ways Arab tourists are orientalized through the narratives of Eksi Sozluk authors who mark Arabs as dirty, disgusting, uncivilized, and backward. Next, I show contrary narratives that claim to welcome and embrace Arab tourists in Istanbul. I argue that a supposedly welcoming discourse towards Arabs also functions under the same ontological presuppositions of Orientalist fantasy. Finally, based on the conceptual framework of “Occidentalist fantasy,” I argue that the othering of Arabs in contemporary Turkey functions to create the illusion of a unified, sovereign subjectivity under the imagined Western gaze.