POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH PROJECT
In Istanbul and elsewhere, food claims are related to the material, cultural, and economic centrality of food in organizing life across multiple scales and time frames (Goodman & DuPuis, 2002). As an urban origin movement, food activism in Istanbul is a productive venue in analyzing the impacts of neoliberal globalization on participation in cities; and identifying the struggles’ long term and immediate links to social justice in Turkey. The primary objective of the study is to examine key parameters of cultures, economies and politics of people, political action, and city by focusing on the intersectional dynamics at work in the mobilization(s) and claim(s) around food in Istanbul. Through a multiple-phase, iterative process of qualitative and visual research, the study interrogates the following questions: What are the main cultural, ideological, identity-based, and other threads informing food related struggles in Istanbul? What are the subjective and social motives shaping individuals’ commitment to food as a politically and/or ethically relevant category? Whether and how do struggles for food equity and justice reiterate links to gender, ethnic, environmental, and spatial justice, and urban participation? What role does and may urban form play in invigorating and deepening this interaction?