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An Ethnography of Space, Creative Dissent and Reflective Nostalgia in the City Centre of Global Istanbul

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The Palgrave Handbook of Urban Ethnography

Abstract

Tsibiridou examines activist practices against old and new hegemonies in a neighbourhood at the heart of Istanbul marked by art production, Western-style consumerism and entertainment. Since the Christian minorities withdrew in the 1960s, this area has hosted people from the margins, such as leftist activists, internal migrants, black Turks and Kurds. In the belief that urban anthropology needs to establish a dialogue with art, architecture and other social sciences, she argues for building bridges with key informants such as artists and authors, performers and activists, who are engaged in reflecting on their own society and producing ‘texts’ that, alongside participant observation, can help us to understand everyday aesthetics and the politics of dissent that oppose authoritarian rule and old and new hegemonies. Tsibiridou addresses the combination of Islamism from above and neoliberalism from outside in addressing the contrast between exclusion, middle-class prosperity and gentrification.

This research has been financed by the Research Committee of the University of Macedonia through the program “Basic Research Call”.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Beyond graffiti and artistic installations, I borrow this term from cultural studies in order to include more discursive but equally creative forms of dissent, such as literary style, memoires and storytelling, or other embodied performances.

  2. 2.

    I foun d Boym’s (2001) categorical distinction between restorative and reflective nostalgia very productive to support my argument here. Reconsidering the past not against the other but by reflecting on him (reflective nostalgia) works on the antipode of every ethnocentric ghost—that is, nationalism and cosmopolitan elitism (restorative nostalgia) expectations.

  3. 3.

    Such was the case of cosmopolitan melancholia (hüzün) in the book Istanbul by Orhan Pamuk (Puchner 2014), bu t not his inventive project about The Museum of Innocence, which is inscribed on the spirit of new cosmop olitics (Rassel 2014).

  4. 4.

    This includes AKM, Atatürk Cultural Center, the Opera House, Istiklal’s shops and cafés, cinema entertainment and production in Yeşilçam Street.

  5. 5.

    One thinks of the plethora of feminist groups, prostitution and female artistic installations, Kurdish women, and LGBTI activism.

  6. 6.

    This perspective follows the detailed history and problematizing of urban anthropology, as was raised by the exhaustive analysis of Prato , G. B. and Pardo , I. (2013) and the following productive “Discussion and Comments, Forum ‘Urban Anthropology’”, Urbanities vol. 4, 2 (2014): 84–103.

  7. 7.

    The state usually blames this lifestyle (Erdogan called them ‘çapulcu’, which translates to ‘looters’). I discuss this issue in a forthcoming study on çapulcu cosmopolitics.

  8. 8.

    The analysis relies on their public discourses and events, as well as their texts, performances and private discussions. See Appendix 1 for representative websites, photos, books and so on that are significant for their aesthetics.

  9. 9.

    For Amargi, see https://amargigroupistanbul.wordpress.com/about-amargi/information/, and for Pinar Selek, see http://www.pinarselek.com/public/page.aspx?id=241

  10. 10.

    See the position of the novel by Duygu Asena to the reflexive expo sition ‘How Did We Get Here?’ (Salt Gallery Galata 2015, https://www.artsy.net/show/salt-how-did-we-get-here).

  11. 11.

    This conclusion of ‘looking without seeing’, perhaps not accidentally, resonates with the tradition of the Sufi’s mystical knowledge. In my view, this is an equally interesting modality of cultural intimacy, like love practices, sharing food and care between the members of the community. Practices and realizations that remind us of the Alevi communalism and activism (Sişmek 2004) we have seen being implemented openly with significant symbolic importance during the Gezi protests (see the dancing Dervish with the tear gas mask ) (Ҫolak 2014).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Fotini Tsibiridou

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  1. Fotini Tsibiridou
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom

    Italo Pardo

  2. School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom

    Giuliana B. Prato

Appendix: Websites, Interviews, Photos

Appendix: Websites, Interviews, Photos

For Pinar Selek

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%B1nar_Selek

http://ekladata.com/I-Ui6I9bj5uP1sitVrZ5mswkee0.pdf

http://www.pinarselek.fr/?page=article&&id=477

http://www.altermondes.org/pinar-selek-meme-la-gauche-setait-habituee-au-genocide-armenien/

Fig. 23.1
figure 1

Yeşil Kız by Pinar Salek

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Fig. 23.2
figure 2

Yolgeçen Hanı by Pinar Salek

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Fig. 23.3
figure 3

Parce qu’ils sont Arméniens by Pinar Salek

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For Erdem Gündüz

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdem_G%C3%BCnd%C3%BCz

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/Default.aspx?pageID=428&VideoID=566

Pieter Verstraete, Pieter. “The standing man effect”, ıpc-Mercator policy brief July 2013, Sabanci University http://ipc.sabanciuniv.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/IPC_standingman_SON.pdf

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Tsibiridou, F. (2018). An Ethnography of Space, Creative Dissent and Reflective Nostalgia in the City Centre of Global Istanbul. In: Pardo, I., Prato, G. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Urban Ethnography. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64289-5_23

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