Institutional denialism as public policy: using films as a tool to deny the Armenian genocide in Turkey

Seckinelgin, Hakan (2023) Institutional denialism as public policy: using films as a tool to deny the Armenian genocide in Turkey. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 46 (12). 2677 - 2697. ISSN 0141-9870

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Abstract

This article focuses on how films are used as part of public policy to reproduce institutional denialism, normalizing denialist narratives in the public understanding of what happened to Ottoman Armenians in 1915–1918. I analyse the deployment in Turkey of two films that reimagine the events of 1915: 120 (2008) and The Ottoman Lieutenant (Osmanlı Subayı, 2017). The films seek to educate the public regarding how to understand and remember events that international actors have “unjustly” depicted as genocide. The films are thus "defensive tactics" to protect the institutional denialist architecture. This article highlights an evolving public policy strategy that uses denialist representations to bolster public belief. The analysis shows how such policies strengthen an “us/them” logic, where “us” indicates a “rightness” framed by ethnoreligious othering that underpins “our” narratives of belonging in contemporary Turkey.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/rers20
Additional Information:	© 2023 The Authors
Divisions:	Social Policy
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DR Balkan Peninsula H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1993 Motion Pictures J Political Science > JC Political theory
Date Deposited:	30 Jan 2023 10:48
Last Modified:	15 Apr 2024 19:42
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/118058

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