Kısa süreli IFEA üyelerinin müdahalesinin bir parçası olarak
11 Temmuz 2016 Pazartesi 14:30’da IFEA’da
Berra Topçu (Massachusetts Amherst Üniversitesi)
Sunum İngilizcedir
Contested Spaces and Uncertain Futures: Place, Agency, and Mobilization in Old Town Istanbul
In the past decade, Istanbul has become a key site of global and grassroots movements in the developing world for social and environmental justice. In this presentation, I use the conceptual lens of “transformational research” (Bernard and Gravlee 2014) to analyze responses to urban renewal in the historic peninsula of Istanbul, in the municipal district of Fatih. Ethnographic data was collected among expert and lay subjects, including reporters, scholar-activists, residents, city officials, and urban planners in the spring of 2015. After laying out grassroots community activism efforts among walled city residents against metropolitan and old town municipalities, I focus on the case of the urban poor neighborhood of Mevlanakapi, located by Istanbul’s historic land walls. I consider possibilities for combining ethnographic, feminist, and participatory methods to study grassroots urban mobilizations and the specific roles played by working-class women in building solidarities (Rocheleau et al. 1996). Finally, I revisit arguments for moving beyond ethnographic “thick description” (Urla and Helepololei 2014) toward long-term collaborations with community-based activists (Hyatt and Lyon-Callo 2003).
Community mural of Walled City Neighborhoods Life and Solidarity Association (Suriçi Mahalleleri Yaşam ve Dayanışma Derneği). Image retrieved from Twitter account of @SuriciYasam (https://twitter.com/SuriciYasam), posted on August 20, 2015. URL: https://twitter.com/SuriciYasam/status/634424874799398912?s=03