Digital transformations in Turkey: Current perspectives in communication studies

As the title, table of contents, and introduction to Digital Transformations in Turkey: Current Perspectives in Communication Studies clearly indicate, the overall aim of this book is to address some of the most conspicuous issues relating to the digitalization of mediascape in Turkey, a country that has increasingly been of interest to international media as well as academics in various fields of the humanities and social sciences. In the introduction, editor Banu Akdenizli lays out a historical and contextual frame for an audience not necessarily familiar with Turkish politics and political institutions. Thanks to this background information, the audience receives a general context with which to follow the case studies presented in three separate parts of the book. Editor Akdenizli uses Wallerstein's world systems theory to frame Turkey as a semi-peripheral country, confirming the argument that “the impact of communication technologies is felt usually the most directly and forcefully” in countries like Turkey. Based on this assertion, Akdenizli provides a summary of communication transformation within the era of Republic, with an emphasis on the 1980s and 1990s digitalization of communication in the country. As Akdenizli states in the Introduction, this is “the first English-written book addressing recent ICT transformations from multiple perspectives in Turkey” (p. xvi). Hence, the book bears a certain responsibility to cover a wide perspective. In accordance with that mission, the list of contributors includes prominent academics in Turkey working in the fields of new media studies as well as political communication, communication sociology, and youth studies.