Berkay Özkan | Humboldt Universität zu Berlin (original) (raw)
Papers by Berkay Özkan
This study focuses on the social history of mine workers in late Ottoman history, mainly from 187... more This study focuses on the social history of mine workers in late Ottoman history, mainly from 1870s to 1910s in the Zonguldak coalfield. Together with the secondary resources concentrated on both history of mine workers in Zonguldak and history of labor in late Ottoman period, a very unique memoir from one of the workers, Ethem Çavuş, will be in use (Naim, 2014).
Those experiences will be utilized to shed a light on variety of subjective processes of workers, their reflections on working conditions, indebtedness and facing death, considering stratified forms of exploitation and subordinated positions of workers in the prevailing power relations in a historical period when there is extensive increase in capital investment and deepening forms of regimes of accumulation. The effort would be given to unfold some aspects of how changes in socio-economic field are highly embedded within the lives of mine workers and their relational surroundings, that of village life. This is especially important if we consider the historical period when there is an experience of increasing grievance for both the state and the foreign capital in an ambiguous manner, leading to massive waves of protests and strikes not only in the coalmines but also in strategic fields of production within the Ottoman Empire (Quataert, 1983).
In this short paper, the aim is to critically engage with some of the photographs taken between 1... more In this short paper, the aim is to critically engage with some of the photographs taken between 1890 and 1899 in Haseki Hospital, İstanbul1. The hospital served long in the history of Ottoman Empire not only as a hospital aiming to provide women with medical treatment and hospitalizing but also had a functional role on distributing the roles of who gets to be in the streets or not.
Aim of the paper is to elaborate on the form of democracy in Turkey which is constructed through ... more Aim of the paper is to elaborate on the form of democracy in Turkey which is constructed through various strategies and discourses signifying the importance of the 'reunification of millet and state' as such, bespeaking of the return of the repressed. In this form of governance, this form of democracy, political demands and struggles of the opponents have been reduced to express their dissents only through the " ballot-box " and have gradually transformed most recently into a state of affairs in which singing songs or gathering collectively after the sunset in the capital city have been banned because of 'security' concerns. Therefore, I believe it would be fruitful trying to explore the possibilities of establishing egalitarian forms of democratic practices and political field, in the light of recent referendum and the political terrain of Hayır [against the presidency of Erdoğan] with the insights obtained by Jacques Ranciere and Chantal Mouffe –especially the agnostic confrontation-against the very persistent form of 'democracy' in Turkey where flourishing of dissent voices and acts cannot appear due to the inability of 'proper' political subjectivation; referring to the construction of equality taking place in the gap between the living inequalities and desired forms of citizenship (Ranciere, 1992).
The aim of this paper is to analyze the current socio-political situation in Turkey which can be ... more The aim of this paper is to analyze the current socio-political situation in Turkey which can be seen as in a limbo where hegemonic power operates a full-scale rule over every sphere of life. It reshapes and configure political participation, economic activities, cultural life and ethical reconfiguration. However, the paper would not focus on the perpetual totalitarian nature of the hegemonic power, namely Erdoğan and AKP. Instead, I would like to analyze how this totalitarianism have been established and still establishing itself. The idea here is that the outcome of analyzing the current, perpetual in nature, state of exception through employing the governmentality perspective elaborated by Michel Foucault in his lectures during late 1970s would be an insightful contribution on how we comprehend the current socio-political situation in Turkey.
On his term "Risk Society" and essay named "The Reinvention of Politics: Towards a Theory of Refl... more On his term "Risk Society" and essay named "The Reinvention of Politics: Towards a Theory of Reflexive Modernization", Ulrich Beck made sensational effect on social sciences in 1990s and onwards.
Thesis by Berkay Özkan
This thesis seeks to analyze and contextualize the role of power relations in the process of mode... more This thesis seeks to analyze and contextualize the role of power relations in the process of modern state-formation by looking at politics of taxation and provincial administration in the Ottoman Empire after the promulgation of Tanzimat (Reformation) in 1840. Its main argument is that the modern state-formation can be contextualized through looking at arenas of struggle in which different social forces, including central state, take part to assert their domination. It asserts that rather than pointing out the 'place' of a state on the scale from weak to strong, analyzing complex relationships between social forces helps to study state-formation as a process without neglecting the importance of the context in which the modern state has taken its form and content. It argues that modern state formation process opens up new arenas of struggle between central state and other social forces through the new mechanisms established and institutionalized in that process. Focusing on an important arena of struggle, the politics of taxation, this thesis argues that this arena facilitates an analytical insight into the processes of state formation while enabling an emphasis on the relational aspects of state and society. For this reason, new institutions and mechanisms in the politics of taxation are examined to draw out to these aspects. The focus is on the local councils as a novel mechanism in provincial administration after the promulgation of Tanzimat in 1840, demonstrating how new mechanisms and institutions paved the way for new arenas of struggle and accommodation between the central state and social forces to emerge and, in doing so, shaped, affected and rearranged the modern state-formation process. Accordingly, the Niš Uprising and Vidin Uprising that took place in 1841 and 1850 respectively, are under scrutiny, as they facilitate comprehensive analysis on the role of power struggles in the modern state-formation.
This study focuses on the social history of mine workers in late Ottoman history, mainly from 187... more This study focuses on the social history of mine workers in late Ottoman history, mainly from 1870s to 1910s in the Zonguldak coalfield. Together with the secondary resources concentrated on both history of mine workers in Zonguldak and history of labor in late Ottoman period, a very unique memoir from one of the workers, Ethem Çavuş, will be in use (Naim, 2014).
Those experiences will be utilized to shed a light on variety of subjective processes of workers, their reflections on working conditions, indebtedness and facing death, considering stratified forms of exploitation and subordinated positions of workers in the prevailing power relations in a historical period when there is extensive increase in capital investment and deepening forms of regimes of accumulation. The effort would be given to unfold some aspects of how changes in socio-economic field are highly embedded within the lives of mine workers and their relational surroundings, that of village life. This is especially important if we consider the historical period when there is an experience of increasing grievance for both the state and the foreign capital in an ambiguous manner, leading to massive waves of protests and strikes not only in the coalmines but also in strategic fields of production within the Ottoman Empire (Quataert, 1983).
In this short paper, the aim is to critically engage with some of the photographs taken between 1... more In this short paper, the aim is to critically engage with some of the photographs taken between 1890 and 1899 in Haseki Hospital, İstanbul1. The hospital served long in the history of Ottoman Empire not only as a hospital aiming to provide women with medical treatment and hospitalizing but also had a functional role on distributing the roles of who gets to be in the streets or not.
Aim of the paper is to elaborate on the form of democracy in Turkey which is constructed through ... more Aim of the paper is to elaborate on the form of democracy in Turkey which is constructed through various strategies and discourses signifying the importance of the 'reunification of millet and state' as such, bespeaking of the return of the repressed. In this form of governance, this form of democracy, political demands and struggles of the opponents have been reduced to express their dissents only through the " ballot-box " and have gradually transformed most recently into a state of affairs in which singing songs or gathering collectively after the sunset in the capital city have been banned because of 'security' concerns. Therefore, I believe it would be fruitful trying to explore the possibilities of establishing egalitarian forms of democratic practices and political field, in the light of recent referendum and the political terrain of Hayır [against the presidency of Erdoğan] with the insights obtained by Jacques Ranciere and Chantal Mouffe –especially the agnostic confrontation-against the very persistent form of 'democracy' in Turkey where flourishing of dissent voices and acts cannot appear due to the inability of 'proper' political subjectivation; referring to the construction of equality taking place in the gap between the living inequalities and desired forms of citizenship (Ranciere, 1992).
The aim of this paper is to analyze the current socio-political situation in Turkey which can be ... more The aim of this paper is to analyze the current socio-political situation in Turkey which can be seen as in a limbo where hegemonic power operates a full-scale rule over every sphere of life. It reshapes and configure political participation, economic activities, cultural life and ethical reconfiguration. However, the paper would not focus on the perpetual totalitarian nature of the hegemonic power, namely Erdoğan and AKP. Instead, I would like to analyze how this totalitarianism have been established and still establishing itself. The idea here is that the outcome of analyzing the current, perpetual in nature, state of exception through employing the governmentality perspective elaborated by Michel Foucault in his lectures during late 1970s would be an insightful contribution on how we comprehend the current socio-political situation in Turkey.
On his term "Risk Society" and essay named "The Reinvention of Politics: Towards a Theory of Refl... more On his term "Risk Society" and essay named "The Reinvention of Politics: Towards a Theory of Reflexive Modernization", Ulrich Beck made sensational effect on social sciences in 1990s and onwards.
This thesis seeks to analyze and contextualize the role of power relations in the process of mode... more This thesis seeks to analyze and contextualize the role of power relations in the process of modern state-formation by looking at politics of taxation and provincial administration in the Ottoman Empire after the promulgation of Tanzimat (Reformation) in 1840. Its main argument is that the modern state-formation can be contextualized through looking at arenas of struggle in which different social forces, including central state, take part to assert their domination. It asserts that rather than pointing out the 'place' of a state on the scale from weak to strong, analyzing complex relationships between social forces helps to study state-formation as a process without neglecting the importance of the context in which the modern state has taken its form and content. It argues that modern state formation process opens up new arenas of struggle between central state and other social forces through the new mechanisms established and institutionalized in that process. Focusing on an important arena of struggle, the politics of taxation, this thesis argues that this arena facilitates an analytical insight into the processes of state formation while enabling an emphasis on the relational aspects of state and society. For this reason, new institutions and mechanisms in the politics of taxation are examined to draw out to these aspects. The focus is on the local councils as a novel mechanism in provincial administration after the promulgation of Tanzimat in 1840, demonstrating how new mechanisms and institutions paved the way for new arenas of struggle and accommodation between the central state and social forces to emerge and, in doing so, shaped, affected and rearranged the modern state-formation process. Accordingly, the Niš Uprising and Vidin Uprising that took place in 1841 and 1850 respectively, are under scrutiny, as they facilitate comprehensive analysis on the role of power struggles in the modern state-formation.