Popular geopolitics and television series: the views of prospective social sciences teachers on the geopolitics of Turkey in the context of the TV series "Teşki̇lat"

Popular geopolitics is a field of critical geopolitics within contemporary geopolitical approaches. In its simplest definition, it is a sub-branch of critical geopolitics that focuses on the geographical policies created by cultural tools and examines the messages conveyed by media, cinema, literary genres (novel, story, etc.) and cartoons. Popular geopolitics analyzes the imaginations that emerge with geography-based geopolitical discourses and the mass production and consumption of the policies legitimized by these discourses through popular culture tools. In other words, it transmits political and cultural messages outside a country's own geography to other geographies and to the people living in these geographies. As a matter of fact, geopolitics is not only about the written and verbal expressions of political actors; It can also be produced and disseminated through news media and visual and audio tools of popular culture. The aim of this study is to reveal how the elements of Turkey's geopolitics in the Teşkilat series are perceived by social studies teacher candidates. In this context, 10 social studies teacher candidates studying at Fırat University Social Studies Teaching Department and watching the series were interviewed through a semi-structured interview form consisting of five items. The study was conducted in a qualitative phenomenological pattern, and the data obtained from the interviews were analyzed with content analysis. According to the participants, it is necessary to convey geopolitical facts through TV series and movies. Participants stated that among the geopolitical phenomena in the Teşkilat series, the discourses about Turkey's power made them proud, activated their national feelings, and announced Turkey's power to the world. According to the participants, the connection between the geopolitical discourse in the Teşkilat TV series and the official geopolitical discourses of the Republic of Turkey is very strong. Participants are of the opinion that the series legitimizes the discourse produced by official and practical geopolitics in the eyes of society. It was stated that an attempt was made to create a strong perception of Türkiye in the audience. Participants evaluated the space representations in the Teşkilat series in seven categories. These categories are "architecture", "power", "war-conflict", "genocide regions", "Turks in the world", "terrorist meetings", "peace-prosperity".