The research project entitled “Kürsü 5.0: Religious Discourse and Authority in the Context of YouTube Türkiye”, led by Assist. Prof. Mehmet Ali Başak, a member of our School of Islamic Studies, has been awarded funding under the TÜBİTAK 1001 Scientific and Technological Research Projects Funding Program in July 2026.
The research team includes Assist. Prof. İhsan Kahveci and Assoc. Prof. Tuba Erkoç Baydar from our School of Islamic Studies, Assoc. Prof. Mehmet Haberli from Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University, and Research Assistant Derya Eren Cengiz from Marmara University. Dr. Akile Tekin of Bandırma Onyedi Eylül University and Dr. Necmiye Durmuş, both visiting researchers at our School of Islamic Studies, will contribute to the project as postdoctoral researchers. Prof. Kemal Ataman from Marmara University serves as a project advisor, while Prof. Gary R. Bunt from the University of Wales contributes as the project’s international advisor.
The project aims to examine the transformations occurring in the production, circulation, and reception of religious knowledge in the context of Türkiye as a result of digitalisation. The growing importance of digital platforms, particularly YouTube, as spaces in which religious knowledge is communicated, interpreted, and debated is also reshaping the ways religious authority is constructed and legitimised.
Within this framework, “Kürsü 5.0” project will adopt an interdisciplinary approach to analyse the discourses of religious content creators on YouTube in Türkiye. The project will investigate how religious discourse is produced and circulated in digital environments, the discursive and visual strategies through which content creators construct their authority, and how audiences engage with and interpret such content.
Bringing together the fields of sociology of religion, Qur’anic exegesis, and Islamic jurisprudence, the project is expected to produce original findings on the transformation of religious knowledge and authority in the process of digitalisation. It is also anticipated to make a significant contribution from the Turkish context to the academic literature on digital religion, online religious authority, and new media studies.
We congratulate the project team on receiving TÜBİTAK 1001 funding and wish them every success in their research.
