Research Article

Disciplinary organization of prisoner’s body in prisons: Bio-political space, perception, rules and transgression in Turkey (1923-1953)

Volume: 20 Number: 20 October 20, 2019
  • Erhan Berat Fındıklı *
TR EN

Disciplinary organization of prisoner’s body in prisons: Bio-political space, perception, rules and transgression in Turkey (1923-1953)

Abstract

This article examines the body of prisoners within the context of disciplinary practices in prisons in Early Republican Turkey spanning the years 1923 to 1953. It deals with topics such as the discourse of  correction and social rehabilitation in prisons; the rites of passage, symbolic and physical intervention on bodies of inmates during confinement; the relationship among space, everyday objects and prisoners;  the perception of physical, social and acoustic space; the degrees of  isolation of  body as a space; the transgressive, destructive and self-destructive impulses among inmates as a strategy of negotiation and survival. Concentrating on the directory of prisons of 1941 and some of the texts by the director of Imralı Prison Ibrahim Saffet Omay  on the one hand, referring to the diaries and letters of the authors and poets such as Aziz Nesin, Nazım Hikmet, Necip Fazıl on the other hand, the article tries to answer questions such as how the prisoners’ body and self-perception were conditioned by the total institution during disciplinary practices, how the symbolic interaction took place among the subject/object body, power, space, other inmates and staff in prisons, how and to what degree the regulations and rules could be put into effect, how the discrepancy between legal definition and real conditions in prisons could be interpreted. Using concepts such as the discipline by Michel Foucault, space by Henri Lefebvre, symbolic interaction by Erving Goffman, acoustic space by Marshall McLuhan and symbolic meaning of skin and wound by David Le Breton as a theoretical framework, it provides a critical discourse analysis of that period on a polyphonic basis. It will be argued here that the body of prisoner was considered metaphorically as a space within the space that was physically, spatially, psychologically, socially as well as culturally constructed, reorganized, negotiated, positioned and constantly reshaped through process of symbolic interaction within total institution, penal system, power relations and a series of social actors. 

Keywords

References

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  5. Demirel, Fatmagül. “1890 Petersburg Hapishaneler Kongresi”. Toplumsal Tarih. s. 5. (Mayıs:2001): 11-14.
  6. _______. “Kastamonu Hapishanesi”. Üsküdar’a Kadar Kastamonu. İstanbul: YKY, 2008: 299-305.
  7. Fındıklı, Erhan Berat. “Cezaevleri Yapı Stoku: Mimarlık, Bürokrasi ve Mekânsal Dönüşüm (1923-1947)”. Tarih Okulu Dergisi (TOD). Journal of History School (JOHS). s. XXXVII-2 (Aralık 2018): 543-568.
  8. _______. “Türkiye’de Cezaevi Mekânları, Edebiyat ve Çoklu Kronotoplar”. Türk-İslâm Medeniyeti Akademik Araştırmalar Dergisi. c. 14. s. 28 (2019): 321-338.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

-

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Erhan Berat Fındıklı * This is me
0000-0002-4616-6175

Publication Date

October 20, 2019

Submission Date

June 24, 2019

Acceptance Date

October 21, 2019

Published in Issue

Year 2019 Volume: 20 Number: 20

APA
Fındıklı, E. B. (2019). Disciplinary organization of prisoner’s body in prisons: Bio-political space, perception, rules and transgression in Turkey (1923-1953). Dil Ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları, 20(20), 47-83. https://doi.org/10.30767/diledeara.635419
AMA
1.Fındıklı EB. Disciplinary organization of prisoner’s body in prisons: Bio-political space, perception, rules and transgression in Turkey (1923-1953). Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları. 2019;20(20):47-83. doi:10.30767/diledeara.635419
Chicago
Fındıklı, Erhan Berat. 2019. “Disciplinary Organization of Prisoner’s Body in Prisons: Bio-Political Space, Perception, Rules and Transgression in Turkey (1923-1953)”. Dil Ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları 20 (20): 47-83. https://doi.org/10.30767/diledeara.635419.
EndNote
Fındıklı EB (October 1, 2019) Disciplinary organization of prisoner’s body in prisons: Bio-political space, perception, rules and transgression in Turkey (1923-1953). Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları 20 20 47–83.
IEEE
[1]E. B. Fındıklı, “Disciplinary organization of prisoner’s body in prisons: Bio-political space, perception, rules and transgression in Turkey (1923-1953)”, Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları, vol. 20, no. 20, pp. 47–83, Oct. 2019, doi: 10.30767/diledeara.635419.
ISNAD
Fındıklı, Erhan Berat. “Disciplinary Organization of Prisoner’s Body in Prisons: Bio-Political Space, Perception, Rules and Transgression in Turkey (1923-1953)”. Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları 20/20 (October 1, 2019): 47-83. https://doi.org/10.30767/diledeara.635419.
JAMA
1.Fındıklı EB. Disciplinary organization of prisoner’s body in prisons: Bio-political space, perception, rules and transgression in Turkey (1923-1953). Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları. 2019;20:47–83.
MLA
Fındıklı, Erhan Berat. “Disciplinary Organization of Prisoner’s Body in Prisons: Bio-Political Space, Perception, Rules and Transgression in Turkey (1923-1953)”. Dil Ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları, vol. 20, no. 20, Oct. 2019, pp. 47-83, doi:10.30767/diledeara.635419.
Vancouver
1.Erhan Berat Fındıklı. Disciplinary organization of prisoner’s body in prisons: Bio-political space, perception, rules and transgression in Turkey (1923-1953). Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları. 2019 Oct. 1;20(20):47-83. doi:10.30767/diledeara.635419

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