State stigmatization in urban Turkey: Managing the 'insurgent' squatter dwellers in Dikmen Valley

Oznur Yardimci

doi:10.1111/anti.12651

State stigmatization in urban Turkey: Managing the 'insurgent' squatter dwellers in Dikmen Valley

Oznur Yardimci

Politics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This paper contributes to the accounts of territorial stigmatisation by examining the state role in it in the case of Turkey, a country that suffers from growing state power. The existing debates are mainly restricted to its function as an economic strategy paving the way for capital accumulation through devaluing working‐class people and places. Drawing on textual analysis of political speeches, local newsletters and mainstream national newspapers and fieldwork material that include interviews and observations in Dikmen Valley where some squatter communities mobilised against the state‐imposed urban transformation project, I demonstrate that state conceptualisation of “problem people” targets the “insurgent” rather than the “unprofitable” groups. Stigma in urban settings functions in inciting the desire to meet the patterns deemed appropriate by the state, rather than the market. Moving from that, I argue that stigma is used as a state‐led political strategy, which is integral to the growing authoritarianism in Turkey.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-20
Number of pages	20
Journal	Antipode
Early online date	3 Jul 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12651
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 3 Jul 2020

Bibliographical note

Keywords

State stigmatization
urban transformation
Dikmen Valley
right to shelter struggle
insurgence
Turkey

Access to Document

10.1111/anti.12651Licence: CC BY

anti.12651
© 2020 The Author.
Final published version, 1.28 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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