CROSSROADS IN CULTURAL STUDIES
Fourth International Conference
June 29 - July 2, 2002, Tampere, Finland
Women and the Politics of Activism in the Post-Quake
Era in Turkey
Organisers: Nazan Haydari and Müge
Iplikci-Çakir
Plikci-Çakir, Müge (Istanbul Bilgi
University, Turkey) NEW LIFE IN NEW TOWNS
Using the testimonies of "middle class" women who suffered from the
devastating consequences of the 1999 Izmit earthquake, this paper explores the
changes in these women's stereotypical life patterns, symbolized by home, family
and gender roles. Highlighting the hidden and often culturally neglected side of
"womanhood" in Turkey, I demonstrate the counter-narrational nature of
these testimonies to the Patriarchal and Feminist discourses which have their
own "occupied territories" in Turkey. As suggested by the Patriarchal
discourses, women who suffered from the quake are not necessarily active actors
of the nationalist or islamists discourses. Similarly, the fact that they occupy
the "center" by residing in the big cities and their territories are
depictions of flawed nature of agendas, does not mean their standpoints are
represented by the dominant Feminist discourses. In fact, the quake victims and
their stories are the patterns of spatial segregation emanating from their
class, environment differentiation and hopelessness.
Kartal, Ümran (Istanbul University,
Turkey) THE CATASTROPHY AND THE PRIVACY OF WOMEN
The devastating consequences of the August 1999 earthquake in the Marmara Region
have changed the notion of privacy, especially for women living in the tents. In
the tent communities, there were no walls anymore between families, and no
borders between the private and the public. By becoming more open to the public,
the bodies and intimacies (privacy) of women were damaged. 'Transparent' walls
of the tents replaced 'thick' walls separating inside from the outside. Private
lives of women were invaded when doorlocks replaced by the zippers. In this
paper, by retelling the stories of the women -with their own words- living in
the tents in Düzce, I try to demonstrate the emotional catastrophe the loss of
privacy caused in their lives and the means they have developed to cope with it.
Holzer-Ozgüven, Petra M. (Istanbul
Bilgi University, Turkey) THE OTHER SIDE OF THE EARTHQUAKE: RESTORATION OF THE
SOCIAL LANDSCAPE IN DEGIRMENDERE AFTER THE MARMARA EARTHQUAKE IN AUGUST 1999
The Marmara Earthquake not only destroyed the families, the lives of people and
the physical structures but also had a deep impact on the structure of the
everyday life. Time and continuity ceased to exist in previous forms.
Relationships and spaces were interrupted and needed restructuring. We, a group
of filmmakers, were able to follow the lives of a group of women who were thrown
together by fate and their will to change their lives and their future. Through
the interviews with some founders of the "KDM"cooperative, which aims
to create working and living spaces, and psychological, legal and social support
for women in Degirmendere, this paper explores how the earthquake altered the
lives of women and opened new possibilities to create new relationships. Also
through a documentary, where the women speak for themselves, rather than being
depicted as victims, I emphasize women' struggles to regain control over their
lives.
Haydari, Nazan (Foothill Community
College, USA) SABUN KÖPÜGÜ: RE-REPRESENTATION OF FEMINIST POLITICS
With a special attention to Sabun Köpügü, a radio program on Acik Radio
(independent local station) voluntarily produced by Muge Iplikci, this paper
sets its focus from the intersection of media and feminism. In the pre-Marmara
quake era, organized movements, characterizing themselves as either
"secular," "feminist" or "Islamist," defined and
dominated the politics of 'feminism' in Turkey. I discuss that by reflecting
multiplicity of women's concerns and forms of resistance in the post-quake era,
Sabun Köpügü challenges dominant feminist discourses. Also by following the
format of interviewing, the program forms a space for local and regional women's
groups to represent themselves. Furthermore, producing such a program is itself
a form of activism where media becomes a means of self-expression.
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