The gecekondulu in Turkey: Representation, identity, and the urban poor in the 1960s and 1970s

The post World War II era produced massive population migration from rural to urban areas in developing nations. While many studies have undertaken analyses of the large-scale social, economic, and political problems resulting from this rapid urbanization, few have examined the dramatic and important cultural challenges posed by this shift. Using Turkey as a case study, this dissertation argues that urban squatting and slum dwelling in major population centers posed vital problems of cultural representation. Who were those people flocking to the cities and crowding into the fringe settlements called gecekondu? How did they, how would they fit into the rapidly changing society? Such questions caused a great deal of confusion, discomfort, and insecurity among intellectuals and other elites in 1960s and 1970s Turkey and elsewhere, precisely because squatters did not fit the conventional cultural categories provided by existing intellectual frameworks. The squatter, or gecekondu, phenomenon in Turkey captured the interest of journalists, social scientists, and filmmakers, resulting in robust traces of the representations of the urban poor. A close examination of these representations reveals that, in spite of huge ideological differences among various interpreters of the gecekondu phenomenon, there developed a surprising level of consistency in the portrayal of the gecekondu people, gecekondulu , across different media. For rightwing, leftwing, and centrist positions alike, the gecekondulu were a people devoid of ideological commitment, a dubious group, and even a threat to public order and the healthy development of society. These dominant ways of representation had profound consequences for urban landscapes and their inhabitants, shaping policy and public opinion. Furthermore, this close analysis of the Turkish situation in the 1960s and 1970s yields a broader set of insights regarding the worldwide problem of urban squatting and slum dwelling. Unpacking the ways in which cultural actors in a given time and place produce representations of these neighborhoods and their residents, allows not only for a more nuanced understanding of the on-the-ground situation, but also a more cogent analysis of the powerful interactions between such representations and the day-to- day effects of policy, public opinion, administration, and even violence.