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I have no Country, I have a homeland

Istanbulite Romiois:Place- Memory- Migration

by Nurdan Türker (Author)
©2020 Thesis 264 Pages

Summary

The book explores the concepts of migration, space, memory and identification drawn from the experiences of Istanbulite Romiois/Greeks and through the notion of being minority. The primary problematic examined in this book revolves around the meaning of these concepts, the functions they serve, and how they are related to the identity of minorities who have experienced ruptures like mass migrations. The concepts such as place and memory are addressed through the way in which Istanbulite Romiois/Greeks create meaningful connections around spaces, identity and memory as evidenced by spatial arrangements and how space in general and in Istanbul is specifically rendered sacred.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the editors
  • About the book
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Table of Contents
  • Preface/Acknowledgments
  • Chapter 1 Anthropological Journey
  • Questions, questions…
  • Show your colors! – Fading colors…
  • Who are Greek, Romioi, Hellenic?
  • The meaning of difference – “Let’s keep a low profile”
  • Narrowing the subject: “How am I going to do this?”
  • The excitement of stepping out into the field
  • How possible is “objectivity”?
  • Fieldwork
  • The identity, position and production of the researcher
  • Getting down the writing
  • Getting acquainted with mistakes: Realizing and learning
  • The routes of the journey
  • Chapter 2 The Memory of the City
  • Looking backward
  • Byzantion, Constantinople, Istanbul
  • Byzantion
  • Constantinople
  • Istanbul – the fall/conquest of the City
  • The Ottoman Romioi
  • The first period (15th century–19th century)
  • Years of transformation (19th and 20th centuries)
  • Chain of events
  • Chapter 3 Being Romioi Orthodox: “I went to the corner store, ‘he said you’re Romioi’, so what, an alien, or what?”
  • He just has to call me infidel!!
  • Turkification, nationalism, nation, ethnic group
  • Visibility-invisibility
  • Language: “Shush now, be quiet, they’ll hear you…”
  • “Ancient”, “Modern” Greek261
  • Greek/Romioi language
  • Limitations of language
  • Religion-rituals: “We understood that we were minorities that way”, “characteristics of being Romioi”
  • “Internal” – “external” borders
  • Unbreakable bonds
  • Example for boundaries: “The worst thing you could have done, was to marry a Turk”
  • “We are not one of them!!”
  • Chapter 4 Migration
  • Decision to migrate: “They left in tears”
  • “Voluntary”- involuntary migration
  • Those who left – Those who stayed
  • Fear-worry: “Always a fear, an uneasiness…”
  • Power is everywhere: “We have concrete fears inside …”
  • Inability to return: “What if something had happened to that heaven?”
  • Settling in Athens: “They never liked us, not at all” – “Mythos”
  • Acceptance – recognition
  • A “new” place, a “new” life: “We are lost in the crowd…”
  • Friendship, neighbors: “I would not trade them for anyone, no one…”
  • To be a friend: “I thought that I could not become friends with a Turkish child”
  • Staying friends: “He/she is Romioi; he/she is Romioi too…”
  • Chapter 5 Place and Memory
  • Place
  • Space – place
  • Istanbul
  • “Sacred” place
  • Sanctification: “We are from here, we have been here for thousands of years”
  • Cemeteries: “A meeting place in Istanbul, a foreign concept in Athens”
  • Autobiographical sanctity
  • Familiar-foreign-guest-native
  • “Foreign” names
  • Strangers of both places
  • “Strangers” at “Home”
  • Memory
  • Nostalgia, homesickness
  • Individual, collective, cultural memory
  • The sensation of past
  • Tastes and food
  • Sound
  • The beautiful years of my childhood – a bitter pain
  • Continuity-discontinuity, “I passed this on to my children”
  • “Let me spend my old ages in Istanbul!”
  • Continuity in Istanbul
  • Epilogue
  • Roots, sacred-social
  • Should we go or not?
  • Romioi / Greek in Istanbul, Turkish in Athens
  • “Sacred” Memory of the space/City
  • “And curtain! Well, let’s not say that…”
  • General evaluation
  • Last word
  • Bibliography
  • Appendix

cover

Bibliographic Information published by the
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek

The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available online at
http://dnb.d-nb.de.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the
Library of Congress.

About the editors

Nurdan Turker studied Political Science and International Relations. She finished her graduate study in the Photography Department in the Faculty of Fine Arts and completed her PhD in Social Anthropology. Her research interests include cultural studies, visual anthropology and visual narratives.

About the book

Nurdan Türker

I have no Country, I have a Homeland

The book explores the concepts of migration, space, memory and identification drawn from the experiences of Istanbulite Romiois/Greeks and through the notion of being minority. The primary problematic examined in this book revolves around the meaning of these concepts, the functions they serve, and how they are related to the identity of minorities who have experienced ruptures like mass migrations. The concepts such as place and memory are addressed through the way in which Istanbulite Romiois/Greeks create meaningful connections around spaces, identity and memory as evidenced by spatial arrangements and how space in general and in Istanbul is specifically rendered sacred.

This eBook can be cited

This edition of the eBook can be cited. To enable this we have marked the start and end of a page. In cases where a word straddles a page break, the marker is placed inside the word at exactly the same position as in the physical book. This means that occasionally a word might be bifurcated by this marker.

Table of Contents

Preface/Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 Anthropological Journey

Questions, questions…

Show your colors! – Fading colors

Who are Greek, Romioi, Hellenic?

The meaning of difference – “Let’s keep a low profile

Narrowing the subject: “How am I going to do this?”

The excitement of stepping out into the field

How possible is “objectivity”?

Fieldwork

The identity, position and production of the researcher

Getting down the writing

Getting acquainted with mistakes: Realizing and learning

The routes of the journey

Chapter 2 The Memory of the City

Looking backward

Byzantion, Constantinople, Istanbul

Byzantion

Constantinople

Istanbul – the fall/conquest of the city

The Ottoman Romioi

The first period (15th century–19th century)

Years of transformation (19th and 20th centuries)

Chain of events

Chapter 3 Being Romioi Orthodox: “I went to the corner store, ‘he said you’re Romioi’, so what, an alien, or what?”

He just has to call me infidel!!

Turkification, nationalism, nation, ethnic group

Visibility-invisibility

Language: “Shush now, be quiet, they’ll hear you…”

“Ancient”, “Modern” Greek

Greek/Romioi language

Limitations of language

Religion-rituals: “We understood that we were minorities that way”, “characteristics of being Romioi

“Internal” – “external” borders

Unbreakable bonds

Example for boundaries: “The worst thing you could have done, was to marry a Turk

We are not one of them!!

Chapter 4 Migration

Decision to migrate: “They left in tears

“Voluntary”- involuntary migration

Those who left – Those who stayed

Fear-worry: “Always a fear, an uneasiness…”

Power is everywhere: “We have concrete fears inside …”

Inability to return: “What if something had happened to that heaven?

Settling in Athens: “They never liked us, not at all” – “Mythos”

Acceptance – recognition

A “new” place, a “new” life: “We are lost in the crowd…

Friendship, neighbors: “I would not trade them for anyone, no one…”

To be a friend: “I thought that I could not become friends with a Turkish child

Staying friends: “He/she is Romioi; he/she is Romioi too…”

Chapter 5 Place and Memory

Place

Space – place

Istanbul

“Sacred” place

Sanctification: “We are from here, we have been here for thousands of years

Cemeteries: “A meeting place in Istanbul, a foreign concept in Athens

Autobiographical sanctity

Familiar-foreign – guest-native

“Foreign” names

Strangers of both places

“Strangers” at “Home”

Memory

Nostalgia, homesickness

Individual, collective, cultural memory

The sensation of past

Tastes and food

Sound

The beautiful years of my childhood – a bitter pain

Continuity-discontinuity, I passed this on to my children

Details

Pages
264
Year
2020
ISBN (PDF)
9783631841303
ISBN (ePUB)
9783631841310
ISBN (MOBI)
9783631841327
ISBN (Softcover)
9783631832981
DOI
10.3726/b17823
Language
English
Publication date
2020 (December)
Published
Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien, 2020. 264 pp., 1 fig. b/w, 3 tables.

Biographical notes

Nurdan Türker (Author)

Nurdan Turker studied Political Science and International Relations. She finished her graduate study in the Photography Department in the Faculty of Fine Arts and completed her PhD in Social Anthropology. Her research interests include cultural studies, visual anthropology and visual narratives.

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264 pages