Abstract
Elaborating on salient contextual factors, such as historical conditions, national history, militarised masculinity, and language, this study looks at how repertoires of everyday nationhood are deployed in relation to boundary-drawing in the context of the recent refugee influx in Turkey. Drawing on ethnographic observations, semi-structured interviews and focus groups with ordinary Turkish citizens in Adana, this paper sheds light on the complexities of everyday understandings of citizenship and nationhood with regards to the emergence of ‘insider versus outsiders’ notions. Results suggest that ordinary citizens evoke various notions of nationhood in everyday life in drawing boundaries against ‘outsiders’ (i.e., refugees) by deploying historically rooted national identity constructions (militaristic, unitary) and symbols (language, flag). This article, therefore, reveals a national identity boundary-drawing mechanism involving widespread adherence to a militarised sense of nationhood, related more to other ideas of belonging than ethnicity. It further indicates that ordinary citizens, in their narratives, link such constructions and symbols with historical and current political contexts (e.g., the conflict between Turks and Arabs during WW1, or; current military operations in Syria).
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 657-672 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | British Journal of Sociology |
| Volume | 74 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 23 May 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Sept 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:I am deeply grateful to the field supervisor, İlke Şanlıer Yüksel, and supervisors, Renee Luthra and Yasemin Soysal for their mentorship and persistent support during my PhD journey. I also give special thanks to Johanna Römer, Nando Sigona, Saskia Schäfer, the editor and the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on earlier versions of this article. This paper also benefited from the comments of the participants at the Berlin Conference ‘Living Together/Looking Apart’, Humboldt University, September 2022.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. The British Journal of Sociology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of London School of Economics and Political Science.
