Forms of Appearance / Disappearance: Material Representations of Displaced Communities in Urban Public Space
in: Settlements and Displacement in TurkeyStruggle and Rejuvenation, ÖZLEM ERDOĞDU ERKARSLAN AND ELA ALANYALI ARAL xiii, Editor, routledge, London, pp.174-197, 2023
- Publication Type: Book Chapter / Chapter Research Book
- Publication Date: 2023
- Publisher: routledge
- City: London
- Page Numbers: pp.174-197
- Editors: ÖZLEM ERDOĞDU ERKARSLAN AND ELA ALANYALI ARAL xiii, Editor
- Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes
Abstract
This chapter highlights urban public space as a medium that portrays cultural encounters and
concomitantly observable ways of acculturation between displaced and host communities. In
this scope, the study examines the visibility in the Önder neighborhood hosting the highest
population of Syrian displaced people in Ankara through an analysis of material
representations. The elements and mediums that construct the displaced community’s visibility
in relation to their socio-spatial and socio-cultural practices are elaborated through an analytical
reading of video pieces taken from public spaces. The expressions in the videos show tensions
and contradictions, both intentional and coincidental, in the negotiations of visibility in the
public realm. While the video is primarily focused on the tactics employed by the displaced
community, it inherently shows fragments of those employed by the locals in addition to
strategies employed by the authorities, which reveal the political layers in the contested
territories of the city.