A Short Exploration of Turkey’s Moral Landscape through a TV Series: Red Buds
Red Buds is a television series that has been airing on a national channel in Turkey for the past year. The show is rooted in the well-known socio-political and cultural cleavage within Turkish society, offering a narrative that unfolds between a devout family belonging to an Islamist sect and a pro-secular republican family. On the one hand, the series highlights the common clichés associated with this divide, but on the other, it attempts to provide a platform for mutual understanding. This shared ground is shaped by a series of moral discussions on key themes such as life, death, love, family, gender, motherhood, money, and professional ethics.
Moral references are often a key element in defining in-groups, and nation-states frequently promote common moral frameworks to build and sustain a sense of national identity. As such, these moral references become indicators of national belonging, closely intertwined with the power dynamics of the nation-state. The socio-political and cultural conflict that has been part of Turkey’s nation-building process encompasses this moral domain and continues to be reflected in today’s political debates, where opposing sides often accuse each other of being immoral. The dominance of moral discourse in political discussions presents an interesting opportunity to examine how socio-political and cultural cleavages influence perceptions, attitudes, and expressions of morality.
This research seeks to use Red Buds as a shared platform to explore how various ethical issues presented in the series are perceived and articulated by its audience, focusing on their socio-political positioning through a series of in-depth interviews. It aims to understand how individuals navigate their moral landscape within the context of their socio-political identities in Turkey. Simultaneously, it explores the hidden potential for dialogue and reciprocal understanding through this exploration.