3 results
Search Results
Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
Article The Weak Link in the Chain: The (Surprisingly) Loose Ties Between Migrant Women and Women's Organizations in Turkey(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2026) Gencoglu, Funda; Ozgur Keysan, AsumanThis article examines the fragmented solidarities between women's organizations and Syrian migrant women in Turkey, focusing on & Idot;stanbul, Gaziantep, and & Idot;zmir, the cities with the highest concentrations of Syrian migrants. Drawing on semi-structured interviews conducted with representatives from 25 women's organizations, the study investigates why feminist solidarity has remained elusive despite the shared gendered vulnerabilities of migrant women and Turkish women. The findings reveal that women's organizations are divided in their approaches to migrant women due to differing conceptualizations of the state, intersectionality, and traditional gender roles, as well as the cultural and socio-economic heterogeneity of Syrian women. These divisions are further compounded by structural constraints that limit opportunities for engagement and reinforce exclusionary attitudes. By situating these dynamics within the broader context of transnational feminist debates, the article argues that feminist solidarity is not a given but a contested and context-dependent process that requires active efforts to bridge divides. The study contributes to scholarship on migration and feminist solidarity by foregrounding the intersecting dimensions of gender, class, ethnicity, and state-civil society dynamics, emphasizing the need for rights-based, transformative solidarities over charity-based approaches. The article concludes with implications for feminist politics, migration policy, and pathways for future research, offering insights into fostering inclusive solidarities in global migration contexts.Article Once There Was and Once There Wasn't: the Tale of Intellectuals and the State in Turkey(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2023) Gencoglu, FundaThis article presents a taxonomy of various conceptions of the intellectual and then analyses the changing official discourse on intellectuals in Turkey with reference to this taxonomy. The taxonomy developed here is an original contribution to the existing literature on intellectuals. It distinguishes six conceptions of the intellectual: (i) as the gadfly and the gift of god, (ii) as the philosopher, (iii) as parrhesiastes, (iv) as the activist, (v) as the exile and (vi) as the persona non grata. During the single-party years, the dominant approach oscillated between the intellectual as gadfly, God's gift and philosopher; during the 1960s and 1970s, it was replaced by a conception of the intellectual as the activist; during the aftermath of the 1980 coup d'etat, the intellectual was the exile. During the 1990s and 2000s, the intellectuals were mainly the critics of the hegemonic Kemalism, thus they were the epitomisation of parrhesia. This study argues that variations within the official discourse on intellectuals give important clues about how a hegemonic configuration is installed/challenged/displaced/replaced/re-installed, and since the current hegemony in Turkey stands on anti-intellectualism, the intellectual is now persona non grata.Article Citation - WoS: 3Citation - Scopus: 3Dissident women's organizations as a counter-hegemonic actor in Turkey(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2024) Gunduz, Melisa; Gencoglu, FundaCould the Turkish women's movement, which has a strong reaction mechanism, be a constituent actor of counter-hegemony? The main reasons behind this question are the women's movement's deep-rooted history and its openness to combine theory with practice/action. When looked from the Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau's perspective of radical democracy theory, the women's movement appears to have a considerable potential of deciphering the existing hegemony and articulating the social demands which exclude and are excluded by the present-day hegemony in Turkey. This article tries to understand how women's movement in Turkey conceptualizes the existing power relations that constitute the neoliberal religio-conservative hegemony and how it responds to it.
