[URBANTH-L] BOOK ANN: Social Spatialization in a Turkish Squatter Settlement

Angela Jancius jancius3022 at comcast.net
Tue Jan 13 20:09:42 EST 2009


From: Demirtas, Neslihan <em1.izmirekonomi.edu.tr>

My book has just been published. I would like to share information about it 
with the
Urbanth-L list members.

Best Regards,
Neslihan Demirtas

Book Details:
Neslihan Demirtas. "Social Spatialization in a Turkish Squatter Settlement:
The Dualism of Strategy and Tactic Reconsidered" Peter Lang Publishing
House Series: Europaeische HochschulschriftenReihe 22: Soziologie Vol.
427. Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford,
Wien, 2009. 248 pp. ISBN 978-3-631-57887-2 pb.

This book aims to expose an alternative local historical reading of the
formation of a gecekondu space, a settlement of irregularly
self-constructed habitats built by former peasants randomly over night.
The social construction of the neighborhood space is narrated by means of
insider perspectives and using qualitative techniques. In this reading, it
will be made explicit that the dynamics of strategic interventions in
local space, and tactical acts of the migrants in producing their locality
are intertwined processes. The ethnic identities through sectarian and
hometown affiliations have constituted the main means by which the
migrants have developed certain tactics in dealing with the strategical
acts on the vertical level (relations with the actors of urban planning
and local politics) and other tactical acts on the horizontal level
(relations with other sectarian and hometown groups in the locality).

Contents
Contents: Turkish Gecekondu (Squatter) History - Representation of
Gecekondu Settlements - Modernist Urban Strategy - Tactics of Migrants -
Spontaneous Spaces - Neoliberal Urban and Identity Politics - Spatial
Contingency - Islamist Local Governments - Alevi and Sunni Identities -
Power Relations on the Vertical and Horizontal Level.

About the author(s)/editor(s)
The Author: Neslihan Demirtas mainly works on urban politics. Her research
interests are politics of space/identity, neoliberal urban policies and
peripheral low-income settlements. She completed her Ph.D. studies at
Bilkent University (Turkey), Department of Political Science and has been
a member of Izmir University of Economics (Turkey), Department of Media
and Communication since 2005. 




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