An Ethnographical Approach: Female Blogosphere In Turkey

Yıl 2020, Cilt: 3 Sayı: 1, 61 - 82, 31.05.2020

Melike Aslı Sim

https://doi.org/10.33708/ktc.713543

Öz

This paper is about the preliminary ethnographic fieldwork of a work-in progress conducted on the female blogging practices and the female blogosphere in Turkey, focusing specifically on how blogging reshapes women’s cultural and social environment. The study attempts to understand the role of blogging as a medium in women’s self-formation processes and explore how female bloggers construct their identities via online media representations and negotiate disclosure, fame and labor in an age of extreme self-display. Based on an anthropological approach, the study explores the spaces within which women seek “self-realization”, “publicity” and “employment opportunities” in the digital world, particularly, through the practice of blogging. Taking female blogosphere as a field, the study examines how blog production is manifested in Turkey, through the female bloggers’ struggle for hope. Preliminary research demonstrates that blogging acts as a medium of hope for many female bloggers. Given the heterogeneous nature of female blogosphere, experiencing this hope shows differences. At times, upper mobility opportunities are expected, but sometimes hope is realized to provide feelings like happiness, appreciation, self-realization and usefulness. Networking and socialization opportunities are also other motivations of bloggers. The aim of the study is to see how these women use blogging as a media practice to explain themselves in social media platforms. Thus, through the framework of hope (Hage 2004), relatability (Kanai 2019), fame and visibility notions, material formation of identities in this process, the nature of labor production in blogs as well as the construction of female subjectivities within celebrity culture will also be discussed.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Blogging, Ethnography, Women Bloggers, Hope Labor, Self-realization, Fame

Türkiye’deki Kadın Blog Dünyasına Etnografik Bir Bakış | An Ethnographical Approach: Female Blogosphere In Turkey

Öz

Bu makale; Türkiye’deki blog dünyasına, blog yazmanın kadınların kültürel ve sosyal çevrelerini yeniden şekillendirme biçimlerine odaklanarak, toplumsal cinsiyet perspektifinden incelemekte olan bir çalışmanın başlangıç aşamasındaki etnografik alan araştırmasını konu edinmektedir. Makale, blog yazmanın kadınların kendini gerçekleştirme süreçlerindeki aracı konumunu anlamayı ve kadın blog yazarlarının sanal dünyadaki medya temsillerini nasıl inşa ettiklerini; kendilerini ifşa etme, şöhret ve emek konusunu nasıl müzakere ettiklerini araştırmayı hedefler. Antropolojik yaklaşıma dayanan bu çalışma, blog yazma pratiği doğrultusunda kadınların dijital dünyadaki “kendini gerçekleştirme”, “kendini bulma” ve “kamusallık” arayışlarına ışık tutmaya çalışmaktadır. Kadın blog dünyasını bir alan olarak ele alıp kadın blog yazarlarının umut arayışları üzerinden Türkiye’deki blog üretimine bakan bu çalışmanın amacı, kadınların kendilerini sosyal medya platformlarında açıklamak için blogları nasıl bir medya pratiği olarak kullandıklarını göstermektir. Çalışmada; umut (Hage, 2004) çerçevesi altında, ilişkilendirme (relatability) (Kanai, 2019), şöhret ve görünürlük nosyonları; kimlik oluşumu, emek ve aynı zamanda şöhret kültüründeki kadın öznelliği konuları tartışılacaktır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

blog yazma, umut emeği, kendini gerçekleştirme, şöhret

Kaynakça

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