“Welcome to our channel and home”: the mediatization of Turkish family history through family YouTube channels

Abstract

This article explores how Turkish families migrating to Europe–particularly to the Netherlands–use YouTube as a platform to narrate their migration journeys and construct digital identities. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of field, habitus, and capital, the study examines how domestic spaces are transformed into sites of storytelling, identity performance, and symbolic struggle. Methodologically, the study analyses 455 videos from 14 YouTube channels run by Turkish families, focusing on recurring formats such as home tours, relocation narratives, and everyday vlogs. Complementary survey responses from nine of these families provide insight into their motivations and perceptions of audience engagement. This dual approach highlights how YouTube facilitates not only the sharing of personal stories but also the accumulation of what the article terms ‘family migrant capital’–a form of collective cultural and social knowledge that supports both integration and transnational connection. The findings show that digital storytelling serves as a space of visibility, belonging, and cultural negotiation. While older generations of migrants emphasized economic survival, today’s families often seek symbolic recognition and lifestyle improvement. YouTube, in this context, functions as both a personal archive and a public field of representation within the broader narrative of Turkish migration.