Yesim Kaptan: The Turkish Halal Market and Islamic Capitalism

In this presentation, I will discuss theoretical and philosophical implications of the modern-postmodern debates in problematizing the concept of halal and practices of halal-certified bodies in the context of Turkey. By focusing on five regulatory bodies, I explore how these bodies can both promote and hinder the halal industry in Turkey in the age of postmodernism. I argue that these companies and their approach to the halal market and consumption articulate conditions of postmodernity through  Islamic marketing practices. I then discuss the extent to which postmodernism and practices of the certifying  bodies in the Turkish market have become  intertwined. (more)

Yesim Kaptan is Assistant Professor and Vice Dean in the Faculty of Communication at Izmir University of Economics (Turkey). This year she is Visiting Scholar at University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School of Communication, participating in the Project for Advanced Research in Global Communication. She received her MA. In Folklore and her Ph.D. in Communication and Culture & Folklore from Indiana University, Bloomington. Her research interests are transnational media, culture industries, neoliberal consumerism, globalization and nationalism in contemporary Turkey. She has published research in the International Journal of Communication, Journal of Consumer Culture, The Global Media Journal, the Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research, and various Turkish media journals.