Didem Unal
Biographic Data
| ID | 822491 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Didem Unal |
| GIVEN NAMES | Didem |
| FAMILY NAME | Unal |
| SIGNATURE | UNAL D |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Helsinki |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9733-0329 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 107 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Securitization of gender as a modus operandi of populism: Anti-gender discourses on the Istanbul Convention in the context of AKP’s illiberal transformation
This article examines how the discursive politics of securitization of gender operates in AKP's recent framing of the Istanbul Convention (IC) and its decision to annul it.It demonstrates that AKP's securitization of gender is structured as a populist discourse in the context of the party's illiberal transformation marked by the intensification of populist antagonisms.At the national level, it is operationalized to protect the 'pure' nation from …
The making of the Islamist anti-gender power bloc under authoritarianism: Institutionalized modalities of state–movement co-production of Turkey’s anti-gender regime
The variety of anti-gender alliances and democratic backsliding in Turkey: Fault lines around opposition to “gender ideology” and their political implications
This article examines the politics of knowledge production and the affective politics of rising anti-genderism in civil society in contemporary Turkey with a focus on two main points: (1) the variety of actors and their different strategies opposing “gender ideology,” and (2) the effects of state–movement dynamics on the political efficacy of those strategies. The findings demonstrate that anti-gender alliances between state and civil society act…
Populists’ struggle for epistemic hegemony and anti-gender attacks on higher education in authoritarian contexts: The case of Turkey
Focusing on the gendered modalities of the illiberal attacks on universities under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule, this article explores the ways in which illiberal actors' anti-genderism and their quest for scientific authorization intersect in contemporary Turkey, leading to a paradigm shift towards illiberal science perspectives. It analyzes 3 modes of discursive-institutional interventions into higher education (HE) that display…
Political homophobia as a tool of creating crisis narratives and ontological insecurities in illiberal populist contexts: Lessons from the 2023 elections in Turkey
This article analyzes how the Justice and Development Party’s (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi; AKP) 2023 election propaganda utilized political homophobia as a populist tool to construct and reinforce political antagonisms and carry out a crisis-driven politics in search of continued hegemony. Relying on critical discourse analysis of qualitative data, it demonstrates that during the 2023 election period the AKP’s antagonistic operationalization of a…
Critical Pious Agency and Muslim Feminists’ Activism in the Age of Authoritarianism
This article examines how the aggressive public discourse on feminist protest works at the current political moment in Turkey, when Muslim feminist subjects are at stake. It looks at the heated public debates on the 2019 Feminist Night Walk with a particular focus on the recent proliferation and concentration of the divergences and fault lines in the Muslim women’s movement. Drawing on the Foucauldian approach to the power-discourse-resistance ne…
Navigating Stigma through Refashioning Islamic Veiling: Muslim Women’s Sartorial De-Stigmatization Strategies in Contemporary United States
This article examines Muslim women’s de-stigmatization strategies in everyday urban interactions in contemporary United States with a focus on their sartorial choices geared toward navigating stigmatization. It is particularly interested into how intersubjectivity, emotions and materiality work together in navigations of the quintessentially hybrid and unstable meanings of Islamic veiling. Within this frame, it demonstrates that Muslim women’s so…
Gendered Fortunes: Divination, Precarity and Affect in Postsecular Turkey
Review of the book Gendered Fortunes: Divination, Precarity and Affect in Postsecular Turkey, by Zeynep K. Korkman
Are You God? Damn Your Family: The Islam-Gender Nexus in Right-Wing Populism and the New Generation of Muslim Feminist Activism in Turkey
This article examines young Muslim women's dissident mentalities, practices, and subjectivities that confront the epistemological conditions whereby right-wing populist (RWP) gender politics operates in Turkey. Relying on frame theory in social movement research and the Foucauldian approach to resistance, dissent, and protest, it explores Muslim feminist critique of RWP gender discourse mainly with a focus on the following issues: (i.) Instrument…
The Abortion Debate and Profeminist Coalition Politics in Contemporary Turkey
This article presents a qualitative analysis of profeminist Islamic women public figures’ discourses in the abortion debate in Turkey in 2012. The aim is to reveal the possibilities and limitations of achieving an intersectional and egalitarian profeminist collaboration on the Islamic-secular axis in contemporary Turkey. Drawing on recent feminist scholarship on coalition politics, the article exposes the fluctuations of meaning and the shifting …
Gender and sexuality in the authoritarian discursive strategies of ‘New Turkey’
In the last decade, discourse on sexuality has proliferated more than ever in the political realm in Turkey. The discursive utilization of women’s bodies and sexualities has appeared as the main tool to consolidate a conservative gender regime and the heterosexual family with children is promoted as the basic unit to reinforce hegemonic moral values and norms. This article aims to disentangle the intricate patchwork in the Justice and Development…
Vulnerable identities: Pious women columnists' narratives on Islamic feminism and feminist self-identification in contemporary Turkey
Gender in Political Sex Scandals in Contemporary Turkey: Women’s Agency and the Public Sphere
Sex scandals in politics lead to intense public debates about fundamental issues, such as morality, publicity, and privacy, rendering gender inequalities more visible than ever. This article aims to reveal the complex gendered dynamics of the political culture by looking at sex scandals in contemporary Turkey. The ways in which these scandals have been narrated, negotiated, and resolved among the public and political actors provide grounds for an…
Reproductive citizenship in Turkey: Abortion chronicles
Gender and sexuality in the authoritarian discursive strategies of ‘New Turkey’
In the last decade, discourse on sexuality has proliferated more than ever in the political realm in Turkey. The discursive utilization of women’s bodies and sexualities has appeared as the main tool to consolidate a conservative gender regime and the heterosexual family with children is promoted as the basic unit to reinforce hegemonic moral values and norms. This article aims to disentangle the intricate patchwork in the Justice and Development…
Reproductive citizenship in Turkey: Abortion chronicles
The variety of anti-gender alliances and democratic backsliding in Turkey: Fault lines around opposition to “gender ideology” and their political implications
This article examines the politics of knowledge production and the affective politics of rising anti-genderism in civil society in contemporary Turkey with a focus on two main points: (1) the variety of actors and their different strategies opposing “gender ideology,” and (2) the effects of state–movement dynamics on the political efficacy of those strategies. The findings demonstrate that anti-gender alliances between state and civil society act…
The Abortion Debate and Profeminist Coalition Politics in Contemporary Turkey
This article presents a qualitative analysis of profeminist Islamic women public figures’ discourses in the abortion debate in Turkey in 2012. The aim is to reveal the possibilities and limitations of achieving an intersectional and egalitarian profeminist collaboration on the Islamic-secular axis in contemporary Turkey. Drawing on recent feminist scholarship on coalition politics, the article exposes the fluctuations of meaning and the shifting …
Vulnerable identities: Pious women columnists' narratives on Islamic feminism and feminist self-identification in contemporary Turkey
Political homophobia as a tool of creating crisis narratives and ontological insecurities in illiberal populist contexts: Lessons from the 2023 elections in Turkey
This article analyzes how the Justice and Development Party’s (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi; AKP) 2023 election propaganda utilized political homophobia as a populist tool to construct and reinforce political antagonisms and carry out a crisis-driven politics in search of continued hegemony. Relying on critical discourse analysis of qualitative data, it demonstrates that during the 2023 election period the AKP’s antagonistic operationalization of a…
Are You God? Damn Your Family: The Islam-Gender Nexus in Right-Wing Populism and the New Generation of Muslim Feminist Activism in Turkey
This article examines young Muslim women's dissident mentalities, practices, and subjectivities that confront the epistemological conditions whereby right-wing populist (RWP) gender politics operates in Turkey. Relying on frame theory in social movement research and the Foucauldian approach to resistance, dissent, and protest, it explores Muslim feminist critique of RWP gender discourse mainly with a focus on the following issues: (i.) Instrument…
Populists’ struggle for epistemic hegemony and anti-gender attacks on higher education in authoritarian contexts: The case of Turkey
Focusing on the gendered modalities of the illiberal attacks on universities under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule, this article explores the ways in which illiberal actors' anti-genderism and their quest for scientific authorization intersect in contemporary Turkey, leading to a paradigm shift towards illiberal science perspectives. It analyzes 3 modes of discursive-institutional interventions into higher education (HE) that display…
Gender in Political Sex Scandals in Contemporary Turkey: Women’s Agency and the Public Sphere
Sex scandals in politics lead to intense public debates about fundamental issues, such as morality, publicity, and privacy, rendering gender inequalities more visible than ever. This article aims to reveal the complex gendered dynamics of the political culture by looking at sex scandals in contemporary Turkey. The ways in which these scandals have been narrated, negotiated, and resolved among the public and political actors provide grounds for an…
Reproductive citizenship in Turkey: Abortion chronicles
Vulnerable identities: Pious women columnists' narratives on Islamic feminism and feminist self-identification in contemporary Turkey
Gender in Political Sex Scandals in Contemporary Turkey: Women’s Agency and the Public Sphere
Sex scandals in politics lead to intense public debates about fundamental issues, such as morality, publicity, and privacy, rendering gender inequalities more visible than ever. This article aims to reveal the complex gendered dynamics of the political culture by looking at sex scandals in contemporary Turkey. The ways in which these scandals have been narrated, negotiated, and resolved among the public and political actors provide grounds for an…
Gender and sexuality in the authoritarian discursive strategies of ‘New Turkey’
In the last decade, discourse on sexuality has proliferated more than ever in the political realm in Turkey. The discursive utilization of women’s bodies and sexualities has appeared as the main tool to consolidate a conservative gender regime and the heterosexual family with children is promoted as the basic unit to reinforce hegemonic moral values and norms. This article aims to disentangle the intricate patchwork in the Justice and Development…
The Abortion Debate and Profeminist Coalition Politics in Contemporary Turkey
This article presents a qualitative analysis of profeminist Islamic women public figures’ discourses in the abortion debate in Turkey in 2012. The aim is to reveal the possibilities and limitations of achieving an intersectional and egalitarian profeminist collaboration on the Islamic-secular axis in contemporary Turkey. Drawing on recent feminist scholarship on coalition politics, the article exposes the fluctuations of meaning and the shifting …
Are You God? Damn Your Family: The Islam-Gender Nexus in Right-Wing Populism and the New Generation of Muslim Feminist Activism in Turkey
This article examines young Muslim women's dissident mentalities, practices, and subjectivities that confront the epistemological conditions whereby right-wing populist (RWP) gender politics operates in Turkey. Relying on frame theory in social movement research and the Foucauldian approach to resistance, dissent, and protest, it explores Muslim feminist critique of RWP gender discourse mainly with a focus on the following issues: (i.) Instrument…
Critical Pious Agency and Muslim Feminists’ Activism in the Age of Authoritarianism
This article examines how the aggressive public discourse on feminist protest works at the current political moment in Turkey, when Muslim feminist subjects are at stake. It looks at the heated public debates on the 2019 Feminist Night Walk with a particular focus on the recent proliferation and concentration of the divergences and fault lines in the Muslim women’s movement. Drawing on the Foucauldian approach to the power-discourse-resistance ne…
Navigating Stigma through Refashioning Islamic Veiling: Muslim Women’s Sartorial De-Stigmatization Strategies in Contemporary United States
This article examines Muslim women’s de-stigmatization strategies in everyday urban interactions in contemporary United States with a focus on their sartorial choices geared toward navigating stigmatization. It is particularly interested into how intersubjectivity, emotions and materiality work together in navigations of the quintessentially hybrid and unstable meanings of Islamic veiling. Within this frame, it demonstrates that Muslim women’s so…
Gendered Fortunes: Divination, Precarity and Affect in Postsecular Turkey
Review of the book Gendered Fortunes: Divination, Precarity and Affect in Postsecular Turkey, by Zeynep K. Korkman
The variety of anti-gender alliances and democratic backsliding in Turkey: Fault lines around opposition to “gender ideology” and their political implications
This article examines the politics of knowledge production and the affective politics of rising anti-genderism in civil society in contemporary Turkey with a focus on two main points: (1) the variety of actors and their different strategies opposing “gender ideology,” and (2) the effects of state–movement dynamics on the political efficacy of those strategies. The findings demonstrate that anti-gender alliances between state and civil society act…
Populists’ struggle for epistemic hegemony and anti-gender attacks on higher education in authoritarian contexts: The case of Turkey
Focusing on the gendered modalities of the illiberal attacks on universities under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule, this article explores the ways in which illiberal actors' anti-genderism and their quest for scientific authorization intersect in contemporary Turkey, leading to a paradigm shift towards illiberal science perspectives. It analyzes 3 modes of discursive-institutional interventions into higher education (HE) that display…
Political homophobia as a tool of creating crisis narratives and ontological insecurities in illiberal populist contexts: Lessons from the 2023 elections in Turkey
This article analyzes how the Justice and Development Party’s (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi; AKP) 2023 election propaganda utilized political homophobia as a populist tool to construct and reinforce political antagonisms and carry out a crisis-driven politics in search of continued hegemony. Relying on critical discourse analysis of qualitative data, it demonstrates that during the 2023 election period the AKP’s antagonistic operationalization of a…
Securitization of gender as a modus operandi of populism: Anti-gender discourses on the Istanbul Convention in the context of AKP’s illiberal transformation
This article examines how the discursive politics of securitization of gender operates in AKP's recent framing of the Istanbul Convention (IC) and its decision to annul it.It demonstrates that AKP's securitization of gender is structured as a populist discourse in the context of the party's illiberal transformation marked by the intensification of populist antagonisms.At the national level, it is operationalized to protect the 'pure' nation from …
The making of the Islamist anti-gender power bloc under authoritarianism: Institutionalized modalities of state–movement co-production of Turkey’s anti-gender regime
Political science (13 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Gender Studies (12 works) · Law (12 works) · Politics (12 works) · Turkey's Politics and Society (12 works) · Gender Politics and Representation (10 works) · Law (10 works) · Gender Studies (9 works) · Islam (5 works)