Everyday Violence of Forced Displacement

Miriam Geerse studied Cultural Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies at Utrecht University and has carried out extensive field research in Turkey.

• Chapter One: Dealing with Near Totalizing Experiences: Perspectives on Politically-Induced DisplacementChapter Two: Displaced from Alimler: A Story from A to ZChapter Three: ‘The State’, ‘The PKK’ and ‘The People’Chapter Four: Leaving the Village and Settling in the CityChapter Five: Urban Troubles, Urban Support?Chapter Six: Health Matters: The Benefits and Drawbacks of ‘The Social’Chapter Seven: Conflict, Capital and Control: “We Solved That One Too”Chapter Eight: Turkish Displacements - Emplacing ‘Matters out of Place’

Much has been written on the Kurdish forced displacement which took place in the 1990s in Turkey. However, the everyday experiences of these migrants remain an understudied subject. The Everyday Violence of Forced Displacement presents an empirically rich and comprehensive anthropological account of the everyday experiences of internally displaced Kurds in four districts of Istanbul in the early 2000s—the problems they encountered before and after their forced migration, the communities they developed, their narratives about conflict and peace in Turkey, as well their troubling relations with state institutions and the critical role played by the pro-Kurdish political party in facilitating their lives in the city. Presenting forced migration as a continuum, Dr. Geerse offers a fascinating view to understandhow social capital operates in violent contexts along with the negative consequences of war, oppression, and displacement.