Since the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey has seen a complete re-imagining of its political, cultural and social landscape. Burce Celik argues that technology has been integral to this transformative process, showing how take-up of modern technologies, such as the cell or mobile phone, has been embraced particularly by those who most easily absorbed new ideals about Turkey and modern Turkishness. While many studies on the cultural significance of mobile technology focus on its rational uses and incentives, Celik draws on cultural theory, psychoanalysis and the philosophy of technology to explore the bonds, desires and dependencies that Turkish citizens have in relation to the cell phone. She ultimately links a collective post-empire melancholia with a desire to re-imagine a new, ideal Turkish national identity through technology.

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Burce Celik is Assistant Professor and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Communication at Bahcesehir University, Turkey. She obtained her PhD from the Department of Art History and Communications at McGill University, Canada.