“From Self-Sacrificing Mother to Lonely Elder?” Receives Support from the KÜME Researcher Support Program

Bringing together sociology and history, the project focuses on how older women were represented in cinema, television and print media in Türkiye between 1950 and 2000. It will examine the narratives found in films, television series, popular magazines, newspapers, advertisements and public service announcements alongside the social policy documents of the period. In doing so, it will trace the cultural history of the relationship between old age and care. The research argues that today’s care crisis does not stem solely from gaps in social policy. Rather, it is the outcome of a care regime that cultural narratives have sustained for decades.

Over the 12-month project, Assist. Prof. Rahime Arzu Ünal will develop the conceptual framework on old age, care regimes and welfare policies, and will lead the analysis of social policy documents. Dr. Güldeniz Kıbrıs Atabay will analyze film, television and media materials and will interpret these materials comparatively within their historical context. Two master’s students will also join the project as research assistants, working on data collection, building a digital research archive and preliminary coding.

The project aims to explain the historical and cultural paths through which care was separated from extended family and community solidarity and presented as a responsibility of women within the nuclear family. The research is expected to connect family history, gender studies and media history with research on aging and care. It is also expected to open a space for public debate that challenges stereotyped images of older women.

On the future of care in a rapidly aging Türkiye, the project proposes moving beyond the family–state dichotomy and taking intergenerational and community-based solidarity into account as well. In this respect, it will make an important contribution to our University’s research in the social sciences. We congratulate Assist. Prof. Rahime Arzu Ünal, Dr. Güldeniz Kıbrıs Atabay and the project team on this achievement and wish them continued success in their work.