- Social Anthropology, Anthropology, Ethnography, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Gender, Anthropology of the State, and 28 moreWelfare Reform, Social and Welfare policy, Politics of the Family, Modern Turkey, Turkey (Anthropology), Neoliberalism (Anthropology), Neoliberalizm, Neoliberalization of the state, Anthropology of Traffic, Anthropology of Roads, Urban Anthroplogy, Urban Transport and Inequality, Anthropology of Policy, Urban Anthropology, Neoliberal Urbanism, Mobilities Studies, KENT SOSYOLOJİSİ, Urban Transport, Urban Transportation, Right to the city, Mobility/Mobilities, Urban mobility, Road Transport, Transportation Studies, Anthropology of space, Ethnographic Methods, Anthropology of Death, and Lila Abu Lughodedit
- I am a socio-cultural anthropologist with interests in politics of welfare and the family; gender; social inequality;... moreI am a socio-cultural anthropologist with interests in politics of welfare and the family; gender; social inequality; the ethnography of the state and bureaucracy and urban transport and mobility.
My dissertation fieldwork, funded by the Wenner-Gren Anthropology Foundation and supervised by Dr. Rayna Rapp and Dr. Lila Abu-Lughod, examined the transformation of state-sponsored social work in Turkey in the context of larger political and socio-economic shifts. My articles based on this research appeared in the journals Anthropological Quarterly and New Perspectives on Turkey.
My current research project, funded by Bogazici University, focuses on child protection policy and institutions. Drawing on the anthropologies of the state, policy and kinship, I ethnographically explore the long-term effects that the state policy and institutions have on individuals’ lives.
In addition, I focus on the relationship between urban transport and social inequality. My article entitled “Towards an Anthropology of Traffic,” published in the journal, Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology, argues that the daily experience of traffic is a theoretically undertilized medium for examining social inequality in a global, urban social order. My chapter entitled, “Life in Gridlock: Traffic and Transportation in the City” is forthcoming in the urban anthropology reader entitled, Urban Life.
My teaching interests include theorizing neoliberalization and my written work on the topic appeared in the journal, Toplum ve Bilim.edit
This article examines the transformation of the Turkish state’s social work policy to engage recent debates in anthropology about welfare restructuring and neoliberalism. Building on ethnographic research from top to bottom, I trace... more
This article examines the transformation of the Turkish state’s social work policy to engage recent debates in anthropology about welfare restructuring and neoliberalism. Building on ethnographic research from top to bottom, I trace welfare policy through the discourse of politicians and bureaucrats into everyday bureaucratic practice. Drawing attention to the stark contrast between the discursive image of the nurturing three
Research Interests:
This paper discusses state-sponsored social work and its relation to social exclusion in contemporary Turkey. Linking state-sponsored social work to the dynamics of social exclusion, this discussion points to two contrasting sets of... more
This paper discusses state-sponsored social work and its relation to social exclusion in contemporary Turkey. Linking state-sponsored social work to the dynamics of social exclusion, this discussion points to two contrasting sets of practices within the Turkish social work system. First, I focus on the contemporary reform of the child protection system: I examine the current restructuring of institutional care for children, showing its link with the neoliberal agenda of reducing state social spending and shifting social care from state to familial resources. The current emphasis on and the specific implementation of the policy of transforming institutional care perpetuate the processes of exclusion as experienced by the women and children who are the major clients of the social work system. Yet, examples of the ways in which social work can address social exclusion do exist in the system, and I try to offer a glimpse into these limited benefits which at least some clients receive th...
Research Interests:
Anthropological studies have paid too little attention to the everyday experience of traffic, a fact all the more striking given the central place that traffic has come to occupy in urban life worldwide. I submit that the daily experience... more
Anthropological studies have paid too little attention to the everyday experience of traffic, a fact all the more striking given the central place that traffic has come to occupy in urban life worldwide. I submit that the daily experience of traffic is a critical and underutilised medium for examining social inequality in a global, urban social order. My analysis invokes the spectrum of inequalities in relation to traffic in Istanbul, mapping both the hierarchies born out in paradigmatic traffic situations and certain extremes – those barred or excused from participating in the traffic scene. I argue that traffic congestion constitutes a unique zone in which cross-class encounters take place. This analytical focus on the daily experience of traffic demonstrates that urban inequality is produced not only through segregated social spaces, but also on the move.
Research Interests: Anthropology, Mobility/Mobilities, Transportation Studies, Urban Anthropology, Urban Studies, and 14 moreModern Turkey, Turkey (Anthropology), Urban mobility, Mobilities Studies, Neoliberalism (Anthropology), Urban Transportation, Mobility, Transport, Right to the city, Urban Transport, Anthropology of Roads, Neoliberal Urbanism, Neoliberalizm, and Ethnos
https://www.waveland.com/browse.php?t=196&r=s|urban%20life
https://books.google.com.tr/books?id=9D5FDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA444&lpg=PA444&dq=%22berna+yazici%22&source=bl&ots=9oXGUhcnqg&sig=LhH71ChFYkJekU0Q3NcOzyewHwc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjRweeqldrYAhUNhaYKHSkcDto4ChDoAQhdMAg#v=onepage&q=%22berna%20yazici%22&f=false
https://books.google.com.tr/books?id=9D5FDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA444&lpg=PA444&dq=%22berna+yazici%22&source=bl&ots=9oXGUhcnqg&sig=LhH71ChFYkJekU0Q3NcOzyewHwc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjRweeqldrYAhUNhaYKHSkcDto4ChDoAQhdMAg#v=onepage&q=%22berna%20yazici%22&f=false
Research Interests: Mobility/Mobilities, Transportation Studies, Public Transport, Urban Anthropology, Anthropology of Mobility, and 22 moreTransportation, Urban Sociology, Urban mobility, Ethnography of urban spaces, Mobilities Studies, Urban Anthrpology, Urban Transportation, Anthropology of Space, Urban Sociology, Cultural Geography, Right to the city, Urban Transport, Neoliberal Kentleşme, Urban Ethnography, Kent Antropolojisi, Anthropology of Roads, Neoliberal Urbanism, Anthropology of transportation, Anthropology of the City, KENT HAKKI, KENT SOSYOLOJİSİ, Neoliberalism and Urbanisation, Anthropology of Traffic, and Neoliberalizm Türkiye
ÖZET: Bu yazı, güncel sosyal bilim yazınının en popüler analitik kurgusu " neolibera-lizm " kavramı üzerine eleştirel bir değerlendirme sunarak kavramın analitik gücü ve sınırları üzerine bir tartışma zemini oluşturmayı amaçlamakta.... more
ÖZET: Bu yazı, güncel sosyal bilim yazınının en popüler analitik kurgusu " neolibera-lizm " kavramı üzerine eleştirel bir değerlendirme sunarak kavramın analitik gücü ve sınırları üzerine bir tartışma zemini oluşturmayı amaçlamakta. Yazıda sunulan tartış-ma, şeyleşmiş ve sihirli bir anahtar işlevi gören bir kavram yerine, neoliberalleşmenin kendisinin tanımlanacak, incelenip açıklanacak ve de somut bağlamlarda bizzat araştı-rılacak bir olgu olarak ele alınmasının önemine dikkat çekmekte. Tartışmanın hareket noktasını ve dayanağını, neoliberalizm üzerine eleştirel olarak tanımlanabilecek sosyal bilim literatürü oluşturuyor. Yazı, neoliberalizm kavramının analitik popülaritesinin ve tanımlanmamış bir neoliberalizm kavramının sosyal bilim analizini ikame etmiş ol-masının teorik ve politik problemlerine dikkat çeken ve neoliberalizmin/neoliberalleş-menin nitelikli kavramsallaştırılmasını hedefleyen kuramsal yaklaşımları ele almakta. Sosyal bilim analizinde bu kadar sıklıkla kullanılan neoliberalizm kavramının, farklı teorik ve politik konumlardan ele alındığı zaman, başka tanımlamalara ve değişik ol-gulara denk geldiği gözleminden hareketle, tartışma seçili üç kuramsal yaklaşım üze-rine odaklanmakta: Coğrafya disiplini ve kent teorisinin neoliberalizm kuramsallaştır-ması; neoliberalizmi yeni bir yönetim tarzı ve zihniyeti olarak ele alan teorik litera-tür ve neoliberalizmin kuramsallaştırılmasına antropoloji disiplini içinden eleştirel bir perspektif sunan çalışmalar. Sonuç bölümü ise bu yazıda neoliberalizm kuramsallaş-tırması üzerine yürütülen tartışmayı, Türkiye üzerine sosyal bilim analizi açısından ele alınabilecek olası sorunsallar ve tartışma soruları ile ilintilendirmeyi amaçlıyor. 1 Bu yazı, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Atatürk Enstitüsü'nün yüksek lisans/doktora programında son bir-kaç yıldır verdiğim " Neoliberalizmi Kuramsallaştırmak " dersi çerçevesinde şekillendi. Bu dersin öğrencisi olarak düşünceleri ve heyecanları ile beni motive eden ve karşılıklı tartışmalarımızla bu yazıda ele aldığım konular üzerine yüksek sesle düşünme fırsatını paylaştığım tüm öğrencilere teşekkür ederim. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi'nde Ekim 2012'de düzenledikleri, " Disiplinlerarası bir ça-lıştay: Neoliberalizm ve Sanat " başlıklı çalıştaya beni davet ederek bu yazıda sunulan analizi ya-zıya geçirmeye başlamama önemli bir vesile sağladıkları ve çalıştayın katılımcıları ve dinleyicile-ri ile birlikte sundukları yorum ve sorularla analizime katkıda bulundukları için Yahya Madra ve Fikret Adaman'a teşekkür borçluyum. Önerileri ile makalenin son şekline verdikleri değerli kat-kıları için Toplum ve Bilim'in hakem değerlendirmesine ve yayın kuruluna, desteği için Tanıl Bo-ra'ya müteşekkirim. Yazı üzerindeki düzeltmeleri için Atatürk Enstitüsü asistanlarına teşekkür ederim. Yazı içinde yer alan İngilizce'den Türkçe'ye çeviriler aksi belirtilmedikçe yazara aittir. 2 Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, Atatürk Enstitüsü.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Anthropological studies have paid too little attention to the everyday experience of traffic, a fact all the more striking given the central place that traffic has come to occupy in urban life worldwide. I submit that the daily experience... more
Anthropological studies have paid too little attention to the everyday experience of traffic, a fact all the more striking given the central place that traffic has come to occupy in urban life worldwide. I submit that the daily experience of traffic is a critical and underutilised medium for examining social inequality in a global, urban social order. My analysis invokes the spectrum of inequalities in relation to traffic in Istanbul, mapping both the hierarchies born out in paradigmatic traffic situations and certain extremes – those barred or excused from participating in the traffic scene. I argue that traffic congestion constitutes a unique zone in which cross-class encounters take place. This analytical focus on the daily experience of traffic demonstrates that urban inequality is produced not only through segregated social spaces, but also on the move.
PLEASE SEE http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00141844.2012.714395
OR http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00141844.2012.714395
PLEASE SEE http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00141844.2012.714395
OR http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00141844.2012.714395
Research Interests: Mobility/Mobilities, Transportation Studies, Urban Anthropology, Urban Studies, Modern Turkey, and 11 moreTurkey (Anthropology), Urban mobility, Mobilities Studies, Neoliberalism (Anthropology), Urban Transportation, Right to the city, Urban Transport, Anthropology of Roads, Neoliberal Urbanism, Neoliberalizm, and KENT SOSYOLOJİSİ
This article examines the transformation of the Turkish state's social work policy to engage recent debates in anthropology about welfare restructuring and neoliberalism. Building on ethnographic research from top to bottom, I trace... more
This article examines the transformation of the Turkish state's social work policy to engage recent debates in anthropology about welfare restructuring and neoliberalism. Building on ethnographic research from top to bottom, I trace welfare policy through the discourse of politicians and bureaucrats into everyday bureaucratic practice. Drawing attention to the stark contrast between the discursive image of the nurturing three generational extended family put at the center of the AKP government's political rhetoric and policy-making and the experience of urban poor women who pass through the welfare orbit, I argue that for poor women and children, the globally influenced transformation in welfare corresponds to the reinforcement of socio-economic vulnerabilities, all of which constrain their already precarious lives. (KEYWORDS: welfare restructuring and neoliberalism, state, bureaucracy, politics of the family, Turkey)