Stories of the past and present: politics of belonging and subjectivity in Gülsuyu neighborhood

Abstract

Based on narrative analysis of the interviews I have conducted during the fieldwork, this study aims to analyze the experience of living in the Gülsuyu neighborhood. To this end, first of all through narratives of establishment and narratives of the 12 September 1980 military coup, it is aimed to understand how belonging to this locality is articulated by inhabitants. At the end of this section, it is argued that the difficulty of everyday life that characterizes the narratives of establishment is overcome by social solidarity within the community. Following narratives of establishment, narratives of 12 September 1980 coup are read as characterizing the process that robbed people from the tools that rendered them successful in their struggle at the everyday level and alienated them from the "home" that is made collectively. Secondly, this study examines the resisting subjectivities emerging in the face of urban transformation in Gülsuyu neighborhood today. Focusing on the narratives on urban transformation experience, it is claimed that the narratives and practices of the new emerging subjectivities are mainly shaped through the distrust toward the state and the ambiguities inherent in urban transformation process.