MiReKoc Wednesday seminar continues with Hakkı Ozan Karayiğit’s presentation on ‘Production of ‘Abstract Crisis’ and Irregular Human Mobilities’. The presentation and discussion will take place on Wednesday, April 29th, 2020, at 12:00, in SOS143. Registration is required for participants not affiliated with Koç University to mirekoc@ku.edu.tr

Title: Production of ‘Abstract Crisis’ and Irregular Human Mobilities

Abstract: This thesis argues that political representation of space as being consisted of territorially bounded states leads to the impulsion to see an uncontrolled movement as risky, and eventually to call the event as crisis. By way of concentrating on three specific scholarly journals on migration movements, it aims to enlighten the question: who/what turns an event into crisis at global scale, and why? Through focusing on how migration literature explains what constitutes crisis, the thesis investigates how did the transition to calling migration a crisis take place and why. In pursuing the question, the thesis creates a theoretical framework by deconstructing IR space and human mobility with the help of Lefebvre and Cresswell. By asserting its own concept – ‘abstract crisis’, the thesis provides typology and taxonomy of the migration studies categorized under three crisis types.

Short bio: After graduated from International Relations (BA) and Political Science (MA) departments at Bilkent University, I have focused on how space is understood across differing disciplines. In that regard, I have written down MA thesis on how does the conception of international political space as being constituted by territorial states steers scholars’ analysis to call irregular migratory events as crisis. For this interests on space and mobility has grown, I have decided to pursue a second degree at the programme of Urban Policy Planning and Local Governments (UPL) at the Middle East Technical University. Currently, I have been engaging with the theme of space and place-makings. On the one hand, I am conducting ethnographic field research for my thesis aiming to analyze placemaking processes of Iraqi immigrants in Ankara’s certain streets. On the other hand, I am conducting another research field research investigating the Bilkent University’s smoking-free campus process. My fields of research, therefore, are mainly around human mobility, space and crisis narratives.