Book Launch – Culture, Politics, Ideology and Reproductive Health in Turkey

Activity Report: Book Launch – Culture, Politics, Ideology and Reproductive Health in Turkey

Date: 12 December 2023
Event: Literature Talks – Global Academy / FEJUST & Panorama Series
Format: Zoom Webinar

The launch of Culture, Politics, Ideology and Reproductive Health in Turkey (ed. Yılmaz Esmer; Peter Lang, 2023) provided an opportunity to explore how reproductive health and family planning policies in Turkey are deeply embedded in broader ideological, cultural, and political contexts. The event brought together Prof. Dr. Yılmaz Esmer (Bahçeşehir University), Bahar Ayça Okçuoğlu (Koç University), and Duygu Karadon (Bahçeşehir University), with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rahime Süleymanoğlu Kürüm, Jean Monnet Chair at Bahçeşehir University, serving as facilitator.

Within the volume, Dr. Süleymanoğlu Kürüm contributes a chapter that critically examines the ideological underpinnings of reproductive health and family planning policies in Turkey. By tracing how these policies are shaped by state ideology, cultural frameworks, and shifting political discourses, her work highlights the contested terrain of reproductive rights and the gendered dynamics of policymaking.

The event resonates closely with the FEJUST project’s aims. It illustrates how feminist epistemic justice can be advanced by interrogating whose knowledge and values shape reproductive health policies, how gender equality is negotiated in the regulation of reproductive rights, and how intersecting power structures such as religion, nationalism, and state ideology affect both access to and resistance against reproductive health provisions. The discussion reinforced FEJUST’s commitment to uncovering epistemic gaps and amplifying marginalized perspectives within the study of EU and non-EU contexts alike.

For further details, the book is available via Peter Lang: Culture, Politics, Ideology and Reproductive Health in Turkey