Abstract
My presentation is about local people’s attitudes toward the naturalization of the Syrian refugees in Turkey. Based upon fieldwork data, I explored the way the people of Bolu construct Syrian refugees as the “Other” on the grounds of citizenship and the way these narratives reproduce a nationalistic discourse in Turkey. The results indicated that the people reject granting citizenship for ideological reasons and on the grounds of a subjective nationalistic understanding of nation-state membership. Simultaneously, extending such citizenship rights as state welfare (healthcare and education) was seen as a social right or courtesy toward their Muslim neighbors.
Short Bio
Dr. Ülkü Güney is currently Visiting Researcher at the University of Graz. She studied in Hamburg Sociology and received her Ph.D. from the University of Essex in the UK. She is also a qualified Social Worker with long professional experience in working with refugees. Her main research interests are international Migration and Refugee Studies, with a particular focus on nationalism and citizenship, related to identity, racial and ethnic discrimination.
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