Migrating to America: Transnational Social Networks and Regional Identity among Turkish Migrants (International Library of Migration Studies)

200 Pages·2008·2.61 MB·English

by  Lisa DiCarlo

MIGRATING
TO AMERICA
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MIGRATING
TO
AMERICA
Transnational Social
Networks and Regional Identity
among Turkish Migrants
LISA DICARLO
Tauris Academic Studies
LONDON • NEW YORK
Published in 2008 by Tauris Academic Studies, an imprint of I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd
6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
www.ibtauris.com
In the United States of America and Canada distributed by Palgrave Macmillan
a division of St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
Copyright ©2008 Lisa DiCarlo
The right of Lisa DiCarlo to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act
1988.
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any
part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the
publisher.
ISBN 978 1 84511 646 0
A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available
Printed and bound in Indiaby Replika Press Pvt. Ltd
From camera-ready copy edited and supplied by the author
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
Glossary xi
Introduction 1
1 - Locating the Laz 19
2 - Forced Migration: Cleansing the Pontus 45
3 - Hemflehrilik: Regional Compatriotism 55
as a Bridge to the USA
4 - From Yuva to Papazlar: Transregional Migration 69
5 - Maintaining Regional Ties in the City 89
6 - Naming, Claiming, and Getting to Kennedy Kent 109
7 - Homecoming 125
Conclusion 149
Notes 161
Bibliography 169
Index 181
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS*
Woman with goat, Yuva viii
Market in downtown Yuva xii
Woman picking beet greens, Yuva 108
* All photographs © Lisa DiCarlo
Woman with goat, Yuva
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the people of
Giresun, in all of their various locations, for sharing their lives and
their stories with me. This work would have been an impossible
undertaking without their cooperation. I would especially like to
thank the Biçer and Kütük families in Istanbul, and the Çaki›r and
Yanbul families in Giresun for opening their homes to me. They
entertained endless questions from an inquisitive anthropologist
with humility and patience.
My work in Turkey is the result of a deep fascination with a
country and a culture I came to know almost twenty years ago. The
friendships I have maintained over that period of time sustained me
during the challenging periods of my research. I would like to
express my thanks to Murat Erman and his family for their hospi-
tality and friendship over the years.
This research would not have been possible without the support
of the Fulbright Education Commission. I would like to thank
Süreyya Ersoy for entertaining weekly discussions about Giresun
and migration for the duration of my grant. He and the entire staff
of the Istanbul Fulbright office heard more about my work than
they ever imagined they could stand.
I had tremendous support from my mentors at Brown, from the
conceptualization of this project to the publishing of this book.
Engin Akarl› was instrumental in helping me articulate my ideas in
my research proposal. David Kertzer, William Beeman, and
Nicholas Townsend provided crucial feedback and kept me
engaged in tackling the larger questions, even when I was dealing
with the tedium of life in the field. Fran and Calvin Goldscheider
have been my greatest source of support, in countless ways. They
made sure I ate while I was working. They made sure I had work.