Research Article
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Constructing Migrant Foodscapes and Social Networks: The Case of Syrian Migrants in Fatih, Istanbul

Year 2023, , 155 - 175, 19.07.2023
https://doi.org/10.17572/mj2023.1.155175

Abstract

This research explores the link between food, culture, and migration by examining the Syrian food premises in Istanbul’s Fatih district -one of the most popular settlement areas for Syrian refugees in Turkey- by conducting semi-structured deep interviews (82 people) and participant observation. Rather than focusing on the refugee households, I concentrate on the public café-restaurants, food markets, delis, herbalists etc. as places of contestation and negotiation for Syrian people to construct new social/economic ties and to claim a right to the city. Social networks for Syrian migrants are of utmost importance because they struggle to build new lives in the metropolitan cities almost completely relying on their own social networks and financial capital. The food premises (mainly café-restaurants) in Fatih emerge as distinct places where we can trace the ways Syrian migrants build/maintain or transform social bonds, shared identities, cultural traditions, socio-economic ties, daily-life habits, consumption-production patterns and so on. However, these networks might also counteract as mechanisms of exclusion for Syrian migrants both hindering social cohesion with the receiving society and continuing the fellowship- kinship ties. My study offers field-driven discussion points to gain more insight into these intricate relationships among migrant foodways, socio-cultural integration and social networks.

Supporting Institution

Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknik Araştırma Kurumu (TÜBİTAK) 2211-A Genel Yurtiçi Doktora Burs Programı ve Yükseköğretim Kurulu (YÖK) 100/2000 Burs Programı

Thanks

I would like to express my gratitude to TÜBİTAK and YÖK for supporting my PhD research. I am also grateful to my advisor, my committee members, and my colleagues for their guidance and constructive criticism.

References

  • Abadan-Unat, N. (2006). Bitmeyen Göç: Konuk-İşçilikten Ulus-Ötesi Yurttaşlığa (2. bs). İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları.
  • Agutter, K., & Ankeny, R. A. (2017). Food and the challenge to identity for post-war refugee women in Australia. The History of the Family, 22(4), 531-553. https://doi.org/10.1080/1081602x.2017.1314221.
  • Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at large: Cultural dimensions of globalization. University of Minnesota Press.
  • Appadurai, A. (2007). Disjuncture and difference in the global cultural economy. İçinde J. X. Inda & R. Rosaldo (Ed.), The Anthropology of Globalization: A Reader (ss. 47-65). Black Well Publishers.
  • Baho, S. (2020). The role of food and culinary customs in the homing process for syrian migrants in california [Master of Arts, University of the Pacific]. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4675&context=uop_etds
  • Bailey, A. (2017). The migrant suitcase: Food, belonging and commensality among Indian migrants in The Netherlands. Appetite, 110, 51-60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2016.12.013
  • Bascuñan-Wiley, N. (2019). Sumud and Food: Remembering Palestine Through Cuisine in Chile. Mashriq & Mahjar Journal of Middle East and North African Migration Studies, 6(2), 100-131. https://doi.org/10.24847/66i2019.239.
  • Bauman, Z. (2012). Liquid modernity. Polity Press.
  • Bauman, Z. (2016, Temmuz 23). Zygmunt Bauman: Behind the world’s “crisis of humanity” l Talk to Al Jazeera (F. Barr) [Youtube]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG63MkQb1r4
  • Bilecen, B. (2014). Transnational Family Networks of Migrants from Turkey in Europe. İstanbul University Journal of Sociology, 3(27),219-234. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/iusosyoloji/issue/540/5014.
  • Bilecen, B. & Lubbers, M.J. (2021). The networked character of migration and transnationalism. Global Networks, 21: 837– 852.
  • Braun, V. & Clark, V. (2022). Thematic Analysis: A Practical Guide. Sage Publications.
  • Castles, S., Miller, M. J., Bal, B. U., & Akbulut, Ibrahim. (2008). Göçler çağı: Modern dünyada uluslararası göç hareketleri (1st ed., C. 8). \.Istanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi.
  • Chapman, G. E., & Beagan, B. L. (2013). Food Practices and Transnational Identities. Food, Culture & Society, 16(3), 367-386. https://doi.org/10.2752/175174413X13673466711688.
  • Çağlayan, S. (2006). Göç kuramları, göç ve göçmen ilişkisi, 17, 67-91.
  • Clark-Kazan, C. (2017). Ethical considerations: Research with people in situations of forced migration. Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 32(2), 11-17.
  • Çağlar, A. S. (1995). MCDÖNER: Döner kebap and the social positioning struggle of German Turks. Marketing in a Multicultural World: Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Cultural Identity, (Eds.) J.A. Costa ve G.J. Barnossy (ss. 209-230). SAGE Publications.
  • Düvell, Franck. (2013). Turkey, the Syrian refugee crisis and changing dynamics of transit migration. Mediterranean Yearbook 2013, (ed. IEMed- European Institute of the Mediterranean), pp. 278-281.
  • Erdoğan, M. (2016). Türkiye’deki Suriyeli mülteciler ile birlikte yaşamanın çerçevesi. İçinde Adem Esen & Mehmet Duman (Ed.), Türkiye’de geçiçi koruma altındaki Suriyeliler: Tespitler ve öneriler (ss. 69-88). Aryan Basım.
  • Faist, T., Fauser, M., Reisenauer, E. (2013). Transnational Migration. John Wiley & Sons.
  • Ferrero, S. (2002). Comida sin par. Consumption of Mexican food in Los Angeles: “Foodscapes” in a transnational consumer society. In W. Belasco, & P. Scranton (Eds.), Food nations: Selling taste in consumer societies (pp. 194-219). New York: Routledge.
  • Freeman, L. C. (2004). The Development of Social Network Analysis. USA: Empirical Press.
  • Gasparetti, F. (2012). Eating tie bou jenn in Turin: Negotiating Differences and Building Community Among Senegalese Migrants in Italy. Food and Foodways, 20(3-4), 257-278. https://doi.org/10.1080/07409710.2012.71597.
  • Hoerder, D. (2012). Transnational-transregional-translocal: Transcultural. İçinde Handbook of Research Methods in Migration, (Ed.) Vargas-Silva, Carlos (ss. 69-91). Edward Elgar.
  • İçduygu, A., & Şimşek, D. (2016). Syrian refugees in turkey: Towards integration policies.
  • Turkish Policy Quarterly, Fall, pp. 59-69.
  • Inda, J. X., & Rosaldo, R. (Ed.). (2006). The anthropology of globalization: A reader (Nachdr.). Blackwell. International Organization for Migration. (2018). World Migration Report. https://www.iom.int/wmr/world-migration-report-2018.
  • Icduygu, A., & Kirisci, K. (Ed.). (2009). Land of diverse migrations: Challenges of emigration and immigration in Turkey (1st ed.). Bilgi University Press.
  • Kahraman, C., Güneş, \.Ilhan, & Kahraman, N. (2017). 1989 göçü sonrası Bulgaristan göçmenlerinin yemek kültüründeki değişim. Göç Dergisi, 4(2), 227-245. https://doi.org/10.33182/gd.v4i2.598.
  • Kashdan, H. (2019). Jerusalem in London: Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi’s Diasporic World. Mashriq & Mahjar Journal of Middle East and North African Migration Studies, 6(2), 1-35. https://doi.org/10.24847/66i2019.228.
  • Karabağ, G. (2019, Ağustos 20). “Kale Avrupası politikası”, Akdeniz’i kullanan sığınmacılar için Trump’ın Meksika duvarından daha tehlikeli sonuçlar doğuruyor. Medyascope. https://medyascope.tv/2019/06/20/kale-avrupasi-politikasi-akdenizi-kullanan-siginmacilar- icin-trumpin-meksika-duvarindan-daha-tehlikeli-sonuclar-doguruyor/
  • Kaya, A. & Erdoğan M. M. (Ed.). (2015). Türkiye’nin göç tarihi: 14. Yüzyıldan 21. Yüzyıla Türkiye’ye göçler. Istanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları.
  • Komarnisky, S. V. (2009). Suitcases full of mole: Traveling food and the connections between Mexico and Alaska. Alaska Journal of Anthropology, vol. 7, no. 1, 41-56.
  • Modood, T., Triandafyllidou, A., & Zapata-Barrero, R. (2006). Multiculturalism, Muslims and CitizenshipA European Approach. Routledge.
  • Özçürümez, S. & İçduygu, A. (2020). Zorunlu Göç Deneyimi ve Toplumsal Bütünleşme: Kavramlar, Modeller ve Uygulamalar ile Türkiye, İstanbul: İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları.
  • Özet, İ. (2018). Kentli muhafazakârlarda habitus dönüşümü: Fatih ve Başakşehir örneği [Doktora Tezi]. Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi.
  • Öztürk, N. Ö. (2019). Türkiye’de bulunan Suriyelilere ilişkin tespit ve öneriler: Hukuki boyut. www.gocarastirmalaridernegi.org/attachments/article/82/turkiye-deki-suriyeli-multeciler- baglaminda-tespit-ve-oneriler-hukuki-boyut.pdf.
  • Massey, D.S., Arango, J., Hugo, G., Koucaouci, A., Pellegrino, A., & Taylor, J.E. (2014). Uluslararası Göç Kuramlarının bir Değerlendirmesi. Göç Dergisi, 1 (1), 11-46.
  • Parla, A. (2019). The Precarious Hope: Migration and the Limits of Belonging in Turkey, California: Stanford University Press.
  • Pitkänen, P., İçduygu, A., Sert, D. Ş. (2012). Migration and Transformation: Multi-level Analysis of Migrant Transnationalism. Springer.
  • Pirinççi, F. (2022). Suriyelilerin Geri Dönüşü, SETA, https://www.setav.org/suriyelilerin-geri- donusu/, (accessed on June 5, 2022).
  • Raman, P. (2011). “Me in Place, and the Place in Me”. Food, Culture & Society, 14(2), 165-180. https://doi.org/10.2752/175174411X12893984828674.
  • Robins, K., & Aksoy, A. (2015). Transnationalism, migration and the challenge to Europe: The enlargement of meaning. London and New York: Routledge.
  • Seibel, V. (2020). Contact to Natives Among Recent Turkish Migrants in Germany: Gender Differences and Potential Explanations. Frontiers in Sociology, 5, 60.
  • Şemşı̇t, S., & Çelı̇k, D. Ş. (2019). Kale Avrupası Yaklaşımı ve Düzensiz Göç. Paradoks Ekonomi Sosyoloji ve Politika Dergisi, 15(2), 279-294.
  • Vanclay, F., Baines, J. T., & Taylor, C. N. (2013). Principles for ethical research involving humans: Ethical professional practice in impact assessment Part I. Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, 31(4), 243-253. https://doi.org/10.1080/14615517.2013.850307.
  • Vertovec, S. (2009). Transnationalism. New York: Routledge.

Göçmen Gastro-Akışlar ve Sosyal Ağlar: İstanbul-Fatih Bölgesindeki Suriye Mutfağı Örneğinde Göç, Kültür ve Yemek İlişkisi

Year 2023, , 155 - 175, 19.07.2023
https://doi.org/10.17572/mj2023.1.155175

Abstract

Bu makalenin amacı, 2011’deki savaş sonrası Fatih’te Suriyeli göçmenler tarafından yemek kültürü aracılığıyla inşa edilip yeniden üretilen ulusaşırı, değişken ve çoklu gastro-akışları incelemek ve bölgede göç sonrası meydana gelen toplumsal değişim sürecini anlamaya katkı sağlamaktır. Türkiye’ye göç eden Suriyeli grupların büyük çoğunluğu, geçici barınma merkezlerinde kalmak yerine daha iyi yaşam koşullarına erişebilmek amacıyla -neredeyse tamamen kendi beşeri, sosyal ve finansal sermayelerine güvenerek- İstanbul başta olmak üzere büyük şehirlere göç etmiştir. Ülkedeki belirsizlikler ve güvencesizlik koşullarında açılan gıda işletmeleri, bir anlamda yeni mücadele ve müzakere alanları olarak Suriyeli göçmenlerin büyük kentsel merkezlerde kendilerine yeni bir alan açma çabasının somut göstergesi olarak öne çıkmaktadır. Bir yandan da kültürün önemli sembollerinden biri olan yemeğin çeşitli gruplar arasında kültürel uzlaşıyı mı yoksa kültürel çatışmayı mı daha fazla beslediği konusu tartışmaya açılmaktadır. Bu araştırmada sahadan elde edilen birincil veriler (82 kişi ile yarı-yapılandırılmış derinlemesine mülakat ve katılımcı gözlem) ışığında, bahsi geçen tartışma konularına dair güncel bulguların ve yeni bakış açılarının sunulması hedeflenmektedir. Böylelikle, mutfak kültürünün hem göçmenler hem yerleşik gruplar açısından taşıdığı anlamlar, göç ile yaşanan toplumsal dönüşümler ve kültürel bir sembol olarak yemeğin toplumsal kabul ve uyum sürecinde oynadığı roller ele alınmaktadır.

References

  • Abadan-Unat, N. (2006). Bitmeyen Göç: Konuk-İşçilikten Ulus-Ötesi Yurttaşlığa (2. bs). İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları.
  • Agutter, K., & Ankeny, R. A. (2017). Food and the challenge to identity for post-war refugee women in Australia. The History of the Family, 22(4), 531-553. https://doi.org/10.1080/1081602x.2017.1314221.
  • Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at large: Cultural dimensions of globalization. University of Minnesota Press.
  • Appadurai, A. (2007). Disjuncture and difference in the global cultural economy. İçinde J. X. Inda & R. Rosaldo (Ed.), The Anthropology of Globalization: A Reader (ss. 47-65). Black Well Publishers.
  • Baho, S. (2020). The role of food and culinary customs in the homing process for syrian migrants in california [Master of Arts, University of the Pacific]. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4675&context=uop_etds
  • Bailey, A. (2017). The migrant suitcase: Food, belonging and commensality among Indian migrants in The Netherlands. Appetite, 110, 51-60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2016.12.013
  • Bascuñan-Wiley, N. (2019). Sumud and Food: Remembering Palestine Through Cuisine in Chile. Mashriq & Mahjar Journal of Middle East and North African Migration Studies, 6(2), 100-131. https://doi.org/10.24847/66i2019.239.
  • Bauman, Z. (2012). Liquid modernity. Polity Press.
  • Bauman, Z. (2016, Temmuz 23). Zygmunt Bauman: Behind the world’s “crisis of humanity” l Talk to Al Jazeera (F. Barr) [Youtube]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG63MkQb1r4
  • Bilecen, B. (2014). Transnational Family Networks of Migrants from Turkey in Europe. İstanbul University Journal of Sociology, 3(27),219-234. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/iusosyoloji/issue/540/5014.
  • Bilecen, B. & Lubbers, M.J. (2021). The networked character of migration and transnationalism. Global Networks, 21: 837– 852.
  • Braun, V. & Clark, V. (2022). Thematic Analysis: A Practical Guide. Sage Publications.
  • Castles, S., Miller, M. J., Bal, B. U., & Akbulut, Ibrahim. (2008). Göçler çağı: Modern dünyada uluslararası göç hareketleri (1st ed., C. 8). \.Istanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi.
  • Chapman, G. E., & Beagan, B. L. (2013). Food Practices and Transnational Identities. Food, Culture & Society, 16(3), 367-386. https://doi.org/10.2752/175174413X13673466711688.
  • Çağlayan, S. (2006). Göç kuramları, göç ve göçmen ilişkisi, 17, 67-91.
  • Clark-Kazan, C. (2017). Ethical considerations: Research with people in situations of forced migration. Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 32(2), 11-17.
  • Çağlar, A. S. (1995). MCDÖNER: Döner kebap and the social positioning struggle of German Turks. Marketing in a Multicultural World: Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Cultural Identity, (Eds.) J.A. Costa ve G.J. Barnossy (ss. 209-230). SAGE Publications.
  • Düvell, Franck. (2013). Turkey, the Syrian refugee crisis and changing dynamics of transit migration. Mediterranean Yearbook 2013, (ed. IEMed- European Institute of the Mediterranean), pp. 278-281.
  • Erdoğan, M. (2016). Türkiye’deki Suriyeli mülteciler ile birlikte yaşamanın çerçevesi. İçinde Adem Esen & Mehmet Duman (Ed.), Türkiye’de geçiçi koruma altındaki Suriyeliler: Tespitler ve öneriler (ss. 69-88). Aryan Basım.
  • Faist, T., Fauser, M., Reisenauer, E. (2013). Transnational Migration. John Wiley & Sons.
  • Ferrero, S. (2002). Comida sin par. Consumption of Mexican food in Los Angeles: “Foodscapes” in a transnational consumer society. In W. Belasco, & P. Scranton (Eds.), Food nations: Selling taste in consumer societies (pp. 194-219). New York: Routledge.
  • Freeman, L. C. (2004). The Development of Social Network Analysis. USA: Empirical Press.
  • Gasparetti, F. (2012). Eating tie bou jenn in Turin: Negotiating Differences and Building Community Among Senegalese Migrants in Italy. Food and Foodways, 20(3-4), 257-278. https://doi.org/10.1080/07409710.2012.71597.
  • Hoerder, D. (2012). Transnational-transregional-translocal: Transcultural. İçinde Handbook of Research Methods in Migration, (Ed.) Vargas-Silva, Carlos (ss. 69-91). Edward Elgar.
  • İçduygu, A., & Şimşek, D. (2016). Syrian refugees in turkey: Towards integration policies.
  • Turkish Policy Quarterly, Fall, pp. 59-69.
  • Inda, J. X., & Rosaldo, R. (Ed.). (2006). The anthropology of globalization: A reader (Nachdr.). Blackwell. International Organization for Migration. (2018). World Migration Report. https://www.iom.int/wmr/world-migration-report-2018.
  • Icduygu, A., & Kirisci, K. (Ed.). (2009). Land of diverse migrations: Challenges of emigration and immigration in Turkey (1st ed.). Bilgi University Press.
  • Kahraman, C., Güneş, \.Ilhan, & Kahraman, N. (2017). 1989 göçü sonrası Bulgaristan göçmenlerinin yemek kültüründeki değişim. Göç Dergisi, 4(2), 227-245. https://doi.org/10.33182/gd.v4i2.598.
  • Kashdan, H. (2019). Jerusalem in London: Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi’s Diasporic World. Mashriq & Mahjar Journal of Middle East and North African Migration Studies, 6(2), 1-35. https://doi.org/10.24847/66i2019.228.
  • Karabağ, G. (2019, Ağustos 20). “Kale Avrupası politikası”, Akdeniz’i kullanan sığınmacılar için Trump’ın Meksika duvarından daha tehlikeli sonuçlar doğuruyor. Medyascope. https://medyascope.tv/2019/06/20/kale-avrupasi-politikasi-akdenizi-kullanan-siginmacilar- icin-trumpin-meksika-duvarindan-daha-tehlikeli-sonuclar-doguruyor/
  • Kaya, A. & Erdoğan M. M. (Ed.). (2015). Türkiye’nin göç tarihi: 14. Yüzyıldan 21. Yüzyıla Türkiye’ye göçler. Istanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları.
  • Komarnisky, S. V. (2009). Suitcases full of mole: Traveling food and the connections between Mexico and Alaska. Alaska Journal of Anthropology, vol. 7, no. 1, 41-56.
  • Modood, T., Triandafyllidou, A., & Zapata-Barrero, R. (2006). Multiculturalism, Muslims and CitizenshipA European Approach. Routledge.
  • Özçürümez, S. & İçduygu, A. (2020). Zorunlu Göç Deneyimi ve Toplumsal Bütünleşme: Kavramlar, Modeller ve Uygulamalar ile Türkiye, İstanbul: İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları.
  • Özet, İ. (2018). Kentli muhafazakârlarda habitus dönüşümü: Fatih ve Başakşehir örneği [Doktora Tezi]. Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi.
  • Öztürk, N. Ö. (2019). Türkiye’de bulunan Suriyelilere ilişkin tespit ve öneriler: Hukuki boyut. www.gocarastirmalaridernegi.org/attachments/article/82/turkiye-deki-suriyeli-multeciler- baglaminda-tespit-ve-oneriler-hukuki-boyut.pdf.
  • Massey, D.S., Arango, J., Hugo, G., Koucaouci, A., Pellegrino, A., & Taylor, J.E. (2014). Uluslararası Göç Kuramlarının bir Değerlendirmesi. Göç Dergisi, 1 (1), 11-46.
  • Parla, A. (2019). The Precarious Hope: Migration and the Limits of Belonging in Turkey, California: Stanford University Press.
  • Pitkänen, P., İçduygu, A., Sert, D. Ş. (2012). Migration and Transformation: Multi-level Analysis of Migrant Transnationalism. Springer.
  • Pirinççi, F. (2022). Suriyelilerin Geri Dönüşü, SETA, https://www.setav.org/suriyelilerin-geri- donusu/, (accessed on June 5, 2022).
  • Raman, P. (2011). “Me in Place, and the Place in Me”. Food, Culture & Society, 14(2), 165-180. https://doi.org/10.2752/175174411X12893984828674.
  • Robins, K., & Aksoy, A. (2015). Transnationalism, migration and the challenge to Europe: The enlargement of meaning. London and New York: Routledge.
  • Seibel, V. (2020). Contact to Natives Among Recent Turkish Migrants in Germany: Gender Differences and Potential Explanations. Frontiers in Sociology, 5, 60.
  • Şemşı̇t, S., & Çelı̇k, D. Ş. (2019). Kale Avrupası Yaklaşımı ve Düzensiz Göç. Paradoks Ekonomi Sosyoloji ve Politika Dergisi, 15(2), 279-294.
  • Vanclay, F., Baines, J. T., & Taylor, C. N. (2013). Principles for ethical research involving humans: Ethical professional practice in impact assessment Part I. Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, 31(4), 243-253. https://doi.org/10.1080/14615517.2013.850307.
  • Vertovec, S. (2009). Transnationalism. New York: Routledge.
There are 47 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Communication and Media Studies
Journal Section Articles (Thematic)
Authors

Zeynep Yılmaz Hava 0000-0001-9951-202X

Publication Date July 19, 2023
Submission Date March 31, 2023
Acceptance Date June 10, 2023
Published in Issue Year 2023

Cite

APA Yılmaz Hava, Z. (2023). Constructing Migrant Foodscapes and Social Networks: The Case of Syrian Migrants in Fatih, Istanbul. Moment Dergi, 10(1), 155-175. https://doi.org/10.17572/mj2023.1.155175