عنوان

Becoming "urban" or staying "rural":

TLpq304038769

انگلیسی

Becoming "urban" or staying "rural":

[Thesis]

T. E. Erman

The experiences of diverse groups of rural-to-urban migrant women and men living in gecekondus and apartments in Ankara, Turkey

M. Wolfe

City University of New York

1993

463

Ph.D.

City University of New York

1993

This dissertation was aimed at understanding the lives of rural-to-urban migrants in Turkey from their own perspective, bringing out their voices as well as revealing the diversity in the migrant population. It explored the question of whether migrants become urban or stay rural and what that means. While seeking answers to this broad question, it focused both on objective and subjective realms and investigated the conditions under which migrants live as well as their self-definitions in terms of rural/urban. It investigated further the relationship of migrants with the village and their interaction with the city both in physical and social terms as well as with their housing environment. Taking a gender and an environmental perspective, the study asked how being a female or a male and how living in an apartment area or a gecekondu settlement affected the experiences of migrants. This dissertation drew on grounded theory developed by Glaser and Strauss (1967). It employed ethnographic research techniques, namely, participant observation and formal and informal interviews. It also used photographs as a means to approach people which proved to be useful motivating people to invite me to their homes as well as to special occasions, such as wedding and circumcision celebrations. During the research, I rented the lower floor of a house in a gecekondu settlement and resided there for five months. I also paid frequent visits to a neighborhood where gecekondus were being replaced by apartment blocks. The findings inform us about the experiences of migrants in the city and the factors that shape those experiences. They reveal significant differences in the experiences of males and females and those living in apartments and gecekondus. The findings also inform us about the manners and possibility of "becoming urban" for migrants. These findings may be applied to the cases of people who move from one place to another to live on a permanent basis. They may also refer to the general relationships of low-status groups to high-status groups in a class-stratified society. ftnGecekondu (ge-che-kon-du) is the name given to squatter houses in Turkey. Its literal translation means "landed overnight."

Psychology

Social psychology

Social sciences

Social structure

squatter housing

Womens studies

M. Wolfe

T. E. Erman

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y