The British Academy Social Sciences Tackling Global Challenges Programme 2020
March 01, 2021 – February, 28, 2023
This project examines visible and invisible boundaries for Syrian immigrants in Turkish cities through an interdisciplinary study and aims to identify their vulnerabilities. The empirical analysis will be conducted in two provincial industrial centres with diverse local settings. Immigrants’ urban experience will be contextualised in their space/place making, employment, identity formation, and access to resources. The applicants also propose to undertake participatory activities for immigrant families in association with policy makers and stakeholders, including two leading refugee organisations and the Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Kayseri and Gaziantep. The project received approximately 50.000 pounds research fund.
Keywords:
Social integration, migrant’s space/place making, employment, identity formation, and access to resources.
Methodology:
The project will employ a variety of ethnographic research methods such as focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, site observations, and case study comparisons. This is a collaborative interdisciplinary project bringing researchers across relevant disciplines, specifically business & management, architecture & urban studies, and sociology. There will be a two-level fieldwork and data analysis. The first level involves training of the research team and fact finding data gathering and meetings with local stakeholders. This will allow us to refine study framework and identify our sample. The second level involves purposeful sampling of ten families in each city, Gaziantep and Kayseri, and conducting in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, site observations, and activities with the adult members of these families in four analytical domains. Findings of these investigations will inform the design of interactive workshops and problem solving activities.
#CitiesInTransition #IdentitiesInTransition #SyrianImmıgrantsInTurkey
In/Visible Syrian Immigrants in Turkey: Identities and Cities in Transition 