ethnicity and gender dynamics of living in borderlands

333 Pages·2013·1.69 MB·English

ETHNICITY AND GENDER DYNAMICS OF LIVING IN BORDERLANDS:
THE CASE OF HOPA-TURKEY

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
OF
MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

BY

LATİFE AKYÜZ

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR
THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
IN

THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

JUNE 2013
Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences

Prof.Dr. Meliha ALTUNIŞIK
Director

I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of
Master of Science/Arts / Doctor of Philosophy.

Prof. Dr. Ayşe SAKTANBER
Head of Department

This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully
adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of
Science/Arts/Doctor of Philosophy.

Assoc.Prof.Dr.Sibel KALAYCIOĞLU
Supervisor

Examining Committee Members
Prof.Dr. Songul SALLAN GÜL (SDU, SOC.) ________________
Assoc.Prof.Dr. Sibel KALAYCIOĞLU (METU,SOC) ________________
Prof.Dr. Nilay ÇABUK KAYA (DTCF, SOC) ________________
Assoc.Prof.Dr. Helga RITTERSBERGER TILIÇ (METU,SOC)_______________
Assist.Prof.Dr. F.Umut BEŞPINAR (METU, SOC) ________________
I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and
presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also
declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and
referenced all material and results that are not original to this work.

Name, Last name: LATİFE AKYÜZ
Signature :

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ABSTRACT

ETHNICITY AND GENDER DYNAMICS OF LIVING IN BORDERLANDS:
THE CASE OF HOPA-TURKEY

Akyüz, Latife
Ph.D, Department of Sociology
Advisor: Doç. Dr. Sibel KALAYCIOĞLU

June 2013, 318 pages

The aim of this dissertation is to investigate how the border economy shapes inter
and intra group dynamics of ethnicity and gender for those who live in these
regions. This study based on the qualitative research conducted in the town of
Hopa in the Turkey-Georgia border region. The most fundamental argument of the
study is that border regions have economic activities that are specific to these
regions and the form of participation in these activities shapes the dynamics of
social and cultural life. The field study which has been build around this argument
raises questions on the socio-economic relationships as well as family and kinship
relations involving two ethnic groups, Lazis and Hemshins.

This study shows the crucial role gender and ethnicity play in determining
negative and positive effects of the border economy. After the opening of the Sarp
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border gate Hemshins and Lazis experienced the effects of the border in different
ways. Consequentially, discourses of exclusion and othering between these two
groups have deepened. Moreover, gender inequalities gained new dimensions
when women from the post-Soviet nations across the border have entered the
picture. Representations of the life styles of immigrant female workers employed
in the so called “entertainment sector” enhanced imprisonment of the local women
in the private sphere. However this difference between ‘local women’ and
‘immigrant women’ did not create any sense of solidarity among Hemshini and
Lazi women to surpass ethnic divisions and gender inequalities.

This study which focuses on the new inequalities those emerge at the intersection
of gender and ethnicity in the border regions. It demonstrates the slippery grounds
upon which socio economic life of the border towns are established, which
eventually brings forth new forms of inequalities, by the changing definitions of
winning and losing parties.

Key Concepts: Border Economy, Ethnicity, Gender, Intersectionality, Turkey
Georgia Border

v
ÖZ

SINIR BÖLGELERİNDE YAŞAMANIN ETNİK VE TOPLUMSAL CİNSİYET
DİNAMİKLERİ: HOPA- TÜRKİYE ÖRNEĞİ

Akyüz, Latife
Doktora, Sosyoloji Bölümü
Tez Yöneticisi: Doç. Dr. Sibel KALAYCIOĞLU

Haziran 2013, 318 sayfa

Bu tezin amacı, sınır ekonomisinin, bu bölgelerde yaşayan etnik grupların ve
toplumsal cinsiyet gruplarının grupiçi ve gruplararası ilişkilerini nasıl
şekillendirdiğini incelemektir. Türkiye-Gürcistan sınır bölgesinde Hopa ilçesinde
yapılan niteliksel araştırmaya dayanan bu çalışmada, Hopa’da yaşayan farklı etnik
gruplardan –Laz ve Hemşin- kadın ve erkeklere ekonomik ve sosyal ilişkilerine,
aile ve akrabalık ilişkilerine dair sorular sorulmuştur.

Bu çalışma göstermiştir ki, sınırın ortaya çıkardığı dinamiklerinden faydalanma ya
da onlardan zarar görme durumunda etnisite ve toplumsal cinsiyet önemli rol
oynamaktadır. Hopa’da Sarp sınır kapısının açılmasından sonraki süreci Lazlar ve
Hemşinler farklı biçimlerde deneyimlemiş ve bu iki grup arasındaki dışlama ve
ötekileştirme söylemleri derinleşmiştir. Dahası, toplumsal cinsiyet eşitsizlikleri,
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Sovyet sonrası ülkelerden, sınırı aşıp gelen kadınların da dahil olmasıyla birlikte,
yeni boyutlar kazanmıştır. Yerel kadın eğlence sektörünün yarattığı ortamda eve
hapsolurken, dışarıdan gelen göçmen kadın aynı sektörün bir nesnesi, bedeni
üzerinden pazarlık yapılan bir metası haline dönüşmüş, o da otellere hapsolmuştur.
Ancak, ‘yerel kadın’ ile ‘göçmen kadın’ arasındaki farklılaşma, Laz ve Hemşinli
kadınlar arasında, bu eşitsizliklerin aşılabilmesi noktasında hiçbir yakınlaşma ya
da dayanışma yaratmamıştır.

Bu çalışmada sınır ekonomisinin etnisite ve toplumsal cinsiyetle kesişme
noktalarında ortaya çıkan yeni eşitsizlikler ele alınmış ve çalışma göstermiştir ki,
bu kesişme noktalarında kazanan ya da kaybeden olmanın odağı değişmiş,
özellikle kadınlar sosyal yaşamlarında yeni mağduriyetlerle karşı karşıya
kalmıştır.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Sınır Ekonomisi, Etnik Gruplar, Toplumsal Cinsiyet, Kesişme,
Türkiye Gürcistan Sınır Bölgesi

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TO MY MOTHER

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

When I was accepted to the METU Sociology department through the Faculty
Development Programme (ÖYP) in the year 2002, Sibel Kalaycıoğlu was the first
person that I have met in the department and the person who has given me the first
information on both the department and the OYP. I am finishing my 11 year old
METU adventure which has started with her with this thesis that I have written
with her as the advisor. I would like to first thank my advisor, Sibel Hoca, for her
guidance and support in this process. Also I would like to thank the members of
my dissertation committee, Helga Rittersberger Tılıç, Nilay Çabuk Kaya, Songül
Sallan Gül, and Umut Beşpınar because of providing encouregment and
constructive criticism, when it was necessary.

I would like to thank all my teachers in the Sociology department, my friends and
the our departmental secretary, Sündüs Aydın.

I could complete this process which was quite hard and long with the contribution
and support of many people. I thank a lot my dear friends in Hopa Cemil Aksu
and Meryem Özçep, Harun aksu who have helped me during the interviews and
my lovely respondents who have opened their houses and their lives to me. My
cousin Meltem transcripted most of the interviews and deserves candid thanks for
her professional and serious transcription.

A great proportion of this thesis has been written in SUNY, Binghamton. Here, I
have to especially thank to Professor Thomas M. Wilson who gave me such
opportunity by accepting me. He gave me very helpful advices, commands, and
reading materials. I would like to extend my love with all my sincerity to Kaan
Evren Başaran and Seren Ayhan who have been besides me in a period of my life
which was quite difficult and who did not hold back their support and friendship
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from me. If dear Kaan’s labor concerning English was not present I wouldn’t have
been able to finish this thesis. I would like to express my deepest gratitude and
thanks to Çağatay Emre and Elif. And of course dear Delal, among a lot of things,
I thank you first and foremost for your friendship.

I know that whatever I write it will not be enough for what I want to say. Dear
Zülal, Sinan, Çiğdem, Ali and Rüzgar Miran I love you. I am so happy that you
are in my life.

There had been a lot of times when I thought about leaving it and running away
while I was writing this thesis. Times that I have thought that I was not going to be
able to finish, that I was tired and taken by desperation. In times like those my
family’s support was always with me. My dear mother I have finished this thesis
for you beyond everything else. You do not hear me or see me but I know that you
will be happy. My great big family, my dear father, my older sister Canan, my
older brother Ali Daimi, Gülce, Zeynep, Kader, my nephew and nieces Anıl
Mahir, Mayra and Umay, my brother in-laws Güzel, Mehmet and Selim, and my
sister in-law Hasret, I love you a lot.

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