Sociology Talks: "Bringing the Hara (quarter) to Istanbul: Attempts of 'Making-Room' in Syrian Displacement"

Abstract:

This presentation focuses on the attempts of Syrian parents to integrate facets of their former lives into the reality of displacement in Turkey. Based on ethnographic fieldwork with Syrian families in Istanbul in 2022-2023, I introduce the concept of 'inheritance' as a means of understanding Syrian parents' efforts to incorporate morals and traditions, foodways and forms of sociality, with which they grew up, into the here-and-now in Istanbul. These processes need to be understood as an integral component of parents' efforts of 'making room' for themselves and their families in the context of precarious living conditions and familial fragmentation in Turkey. Practices of incorporation encompass a diverse range of activities including establishing a hara (quarter) based on friendship, contributing to the flourishing of a community centre, and preparing Syrian food, whether collectively or individually. Nevertheless, Syrian parents' endeavours of passing on are not always successful and shed light on the challenges they face in grounding and solidifying forms of knowledge, especially collective held ones, into their everyday in Istanbul. This presentation shows that displacement can causes a transition towards a forcibly individualised life and highlights the effects of this burden on the body.