A question of autonomy: the Islamic-conservative cultural sphere in Turkey

The Islamic-conservative cultural sphere in Turkey has rapidly expanded during the 20-year rule of Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party. Despite popular debates regarding the rise of 'conservative art', academic studies have thus far limited their focus to the cultural policies and actions of the ruling power. Consequently, our understanding of cultural producers within this expanding sphere, their aesthetic viewpoints and their position within the broader cultural field remains limited. To address this gap, we employ Bourdieu's field theory and explore the dynamics of this cultural sphere by conducting in-depth interviews with artists and cultural intermediaries active within Islamic/Islamist art circles. Our findings suggest that the sphere is relatively autonomous from the broader cultural field, characterized by its closed-circuit production and circulation network, specific forms of capital, and exclusive ties to the realm of power. However due to its own tensions and fragmentations, this autonomous sphere does not function as a monolithic bloc of Islamic/conservative forces struggling for legitimacy against an established secularist/Kemalist/leftist bloc, as has been often presumed throughout Turkish history. Our discussion also contributes to the broader Bourdieusian literature by questioning the utility of concepts such as 'field' and 'pillars' in comprehending contexts with emerging Islamic/conservative cultural sphere.