Evraklar ve Maddi Altyapıların Öbekleşmesi: Modern Devlet Oluşumu Üzerine Yeni Materyalist Bir Sorgulama

Year 2024, Volume: 33 Issue: 1, 133 - 149, 19.04.2024

Orhan Hayal

https://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2024.33.1307357

Abstract

Bu makale devlet oluşumunun insan olmayan biçimlerini ele almaktadır. Devlet insan ve insan olmayan materyallerin, teknolojilerin, doğal kuvvetlerin, vd. sosyo-materyal öbekleşmesidir. Ne insan-benzeri rasyonel bir aktör ya da şey-benzeri bir araç, ne gerçek toplumsal tahakküm ve sömürüyü gizleyen ideolojik bir şeyleştirme, ne de çoklu ve dağınık yönetim tekniklerini kodlayan sosyo-dilbilimsel bir inşadır. Devletin inşa olması, onun gerçek etkilere sahip aktüel bir varlık olmasını engellemez. Bu makale evrak işlerini ve altyapıyı devlet iktidarının en belirgin maddileşmeleri olarak değerlendirir. Rutin bürokratik pratikler içerisindeki kâğıt üretimi ve dolaşımı, doğal kuvvetleri harekete geçiren altyapı teknolojileri devleti bir araya getirirken aynı zamanda insanlar ve ülke üzerinde iktidar icra etmesini sağlar. Altyapılar devlet-yurttaş etkileşimlerini biçimlendiren eyleyicidirler. İnşaları ve sürdürülmelerinin ardında rakip siyasal hırslar, ekonomik çıkarlar, uzmanlıklar, teknolojiler ve materyaller vardır. Bunların bileşiminde ve işlevinde zaman içinde meydana gelen değişiklikler, yurttaşların devlete dair algılarını ve tutumlarını etkiler. Bu makale, sosyal inşacılığın doğa ve kültür, madde ve anlam, köken ve inşa arasında çelişki varsayan düalist ontolojisinin aksine devlet oluşumunun sözde ikiliklerin sürekliliği ve dolanıklığında devam eden bir süreç olduğunu savunmaktadır.

Keywords

Devlet oluşumu, Yeni materyalizm, Öbekleşme, Evraklar, Altyapılar

Assembling Paperwork and Material Infrastructures: A New Materialist Inquiry on Modern State Formation

Abstract

This paper looks at nonhuman forms of state formation. The state is a socio-material assemblage of human and nonhuman materials, technologies, natural forces, and etc.. It is neither a rational human actor or an instrument, nor is it an ideologic reification that conceals real social domination and exploitation, nor is it a sociolinguistic construction that codifies multiple and dispersed governmental techniques. The fact that the state is constructed does not preclude it from being an actual entity with real effects. This paper considers paperwork and infrastructure as apparent materializations of state power. Paper production and its circulation within routine bureaucratic practices, as well as infrastructural technologies that drive natural forces, bring the state together while also allowing it to govern over people and land. Infrastructures are actants that form state-citizen interactions. There are competing political ambitions, economic interests, expertise, technology, and materials underlying their construction and maintenance. Modifications in their composition and function over time affect citizens’ perceptions and their conduct toward the state. As opposed to the dualist ontology of social constructivism, which implies a contradiction between nature and culture, matter and meaning, origin and construction, this paper argues that state formation is an ongoing process in the continuity and entanglement of so-called dualities.

Keywords

State Formation, New Materialism, Assemblage, Paperwork, Infrastructures

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