Women’s radio history in Turkey: The politics of reflecting together in oral history research

Abstract

This chapter draws from oral history research with women broadcasters who worked in the Turkish Radio and Television Institution (TRT) during the late 1960s and 1970s. The research aimed at addressing women’s struggles within the institutional body of TRT underlying the significance of broadcasting as a space of contestation and struggle. With the participation of the co-author, Özden Cankaya as one of the radio broadcasters, the research process embodied a dialogic relationship of the insider and outsider perspectives which gradually transformed into a collaborative process of remembering, reflecting and reimagining. In this chapter, we perceive oral history research as a non-linear process of collective knowledge production embodied within the everyday, mediated through structured and spontaneous conversations and moments, and facilitated though various webs of relationships. We argue that a collaborative approach to oral history research reveals the complexity and the possibility of a multi-layered interpretation of women’s media histories. © 2024 selection and editorial matter, Begüm Irmak, Can Koçak, Onur Sesigür and Nazan Haydari; individual chapters, the contributors.