A Feminist Geographic Reading of Masculinities: Syrian Entrepreneurs in İzmir

Abstract

This research aimed to analyze migrant men’s spatial trajectories with an emphasis on how they are negotiating with intersecting hierarchies and how they refine and transform their refuge, workplaces. With a lens of feminist geography, it mapped Syrian entrepreneurs’ workplaces in Basmane and Buca, İzmir. To attend the social relations and also gendered practices of Syrian men who run small enterprises and to scrutinize the aspects of their life within broader political, socio-cultural and economic contexts, a feminist ethnographic research was conducted. While heavily relying on participant observation, informal and formal interviews were conducted with the owners of 4 restaurants, 1 barber shop, 1 grocery store and 1 confectioner. Based on the understanding of temporal and geographical contingency of masculinities, it discussed (1) how men positioned/disciplined themselves vis a vis “foreign masculinities”, (2) spatial structures that enabled men’s protector role spilling over into their workplace, (3) homosocial bonds that created continuity and stability.

Keywords

• Masculinities
• feminist geography
• Syrians
• entrepreneurship
• İzmir

Erkekliklerin Feminist Coğrafya ile Okunması: İzmir'deki Suriyeli Girişimciler

Abstract

Bu araştırma, göçmen erkeklerin mekânsal yörüngelerini, kesişen hiyerarşiler ile nasıl müzakere ettiklerini ve işyerlerini nasıl düzenleyip dönüştürdüklerini analiz etmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Bu çerçevede, araştırma, feminist coğrafya merceği ile Suriyeli girişimcilerin İzmir’in Basmane ve Buca semtlerindeki işyerlerinin haritasını çıkarmıştır. Küçük işletmeleri olan Suriyeli erkeklerin sosyal ilişkilerini ve cinsiyetlendirilmiş performanslarını daha geniş bir sosyo-kültürel ve ekonomik bağlamda incelemek için etnografik araştırma yapılmıştır. Araştırma kapsamında, büyük çoğunlukla katılımcı gözleme dayanmak ile beraber 4 restoran sahibi, 1 berber, 1 bakkal ve 1 tatlıcı ile görüşmeler yapılmıştır. Bu çalışma erkekliklerin zamansal ve coğrafi olasılıklarını temeline alarak, (1) erkeklerin kendilerini “yabancı erkeklikler” karşısında nasıl konumlandırdıkları/disiplin ettiklerini, (2) erkeklerin koruyucu rolünün işyerlerine yayılmasını sağlayan mekânsal yapıları, (3) süreklilik ve istikrar yaratan homososyal bağları tartışmıştır.

Keywords

• Erkeklikler
• feminist coğrafya
• Suriyeliler
• girişimcilik
• İzmir

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