“Our Plants are Slowly Dying here, Just Like us”: Coping with Pollution in Turkey’s “Cancer Valley”


Karagence M. D., DOLCEROCCA A. P. C.

Human Ecology, vol.51, no.3, pp.547-557, 2023 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 51 Issue: 3
  • Publication Date: 2023
  • Doi Number: 10.1007/s10745-023-00410-3
  • Journal Name: Human Ecology
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, IBZ Online, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, Periodicals Index Online, Agricultural & Environmental Science Database, Anthropological Literature, BIOSIS, CAB Abstracts, Child Development & Adolescent Studies, Environment Index, Geobase, Index Islamicus, Political Science Complete, Public Affairs Index, Social services abstracts, Sociological abstracts, Veterinary Science Database, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
  • Page Numbers: pp.547-557
  • Keywords: Dilovası, Economic migration, environmental justice, health hazards, Istanbul, low-income communities, pollution, Turkey, unregulated industry
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Air pollution has been plaguing Dilovası dwellers for more than two decades, and the proximity of large industrial facilities with residential areas has been associated with a strong prevalence of cancer among residents of the neighborhood, sometimes dubbed as “Cancer Valley” in Turkish Media. Following original ethnographic research conducted in 2021, this study exposes the history of the neighborhood: why people moved there, how did it become one of the largest industrial hubs in Turkey, and what sort of transformation did it undergo over the last decades. Additionally, it examines how Dilovası residents experience and understand their toxic environment and its consequences, and how they relate to political and social action against pollution. This research, grounded in environmental justice literature, shows that, as both economic opportunities and environmental conditions started to degrade simultaneously in the 1990s, the more modest households of Dilovası were unable to leave and accepted to endure the pollution in exchange for the promise to secure an industrial job for them or their children.