Entrenching geopolitical imaginations: brand(ing) Turkey through Orhan Pamuk

Abstract

This study focuses on how through consumers the market reproduces a discourse that aligns with the political and the cultural spheres. By drawing on fields of production and consumption we turn to how both Turkey as a nation-brand and Orhan Pamuk as a cultural producer are produced and consumed at the nexus of political and cultural fields. Based on the analysis of data comprising of interviews with Orhan Pamuk and Amazon consumer reviews of his work we argue that the consumers of Pamuk’s works duplicate and reiterate dualities that have come to represent Turkey. This highlights the role of cultural products as nation-brand makers and the markets as where arts and politics intersect. We suggest that cultural products serve as vehicles through which existing perceptions and real and perceived global political hierarchies are reproduced. © 2018 Springer Nature Limited.