Representing and rekindling conviviality
The role of Burgaz islanders’ media productions in resilience, solidarity, and reunion
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7146/mk.v40i78.141577Keywords:
Conviviality, Media production, Crisis, Migration, Minorities, DiversityAbstract
This article examines how Burgaz islanders use media productions – novels, memoirs, documentaries, and interview-based books – to represent and rekindle conviviality, resilience, and solidarity in response to political crises and forced migration within a post-Ottoman homogenising context. By combining media studies and anthropology, I analyse narratives and representations in these media productions, conduct expert interviews with authors and documentary producers, and juxtapose these findings with long-term ethnographic research. The role of media produced by Burgaz islanders is threefold: 1) representing conviviality, solidarity, and diversity as an ebru (marbling)-like pattern, serving as a pillar of a strong, cohesive, and resilient community in times of political crisis; 2) critiquing nationalism and homogenisation processes; and 3) serving as a collective healing mechanism that fosters hope for reuniting the dispersed islanders.
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