Urban Segregation and the Making of Roma Marginality in Türkiye: The Case of Urla
Dr. Uştuk will present his ethnographic research of the Roma community in Urla, a town near Izmir. The talk will begin with a brief overview of the evolution of Romani Studies in Türkiye, situating the emergence of the field within the broader political transformations prompted by EU accession processes and the Roma civil society movement. Against this contextual background, an ethnographic case study from Urla, İzmir region, demonstrates how gentrification policies led to an “exile strategy” against the Roma community, framing them as the “unwanted others.” The research indicates that structural exclusion operates simultaneously through policy frameworks and everyday narratives of blame, sustaining a long-lasting politics of exclusion.
Dr. Uştuk
Dr. Uştuk is an Associate Professor of Communication Sciences at İzmir Institute of Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in Communication Sciences from Hacettepe University in Turkey, an MA in Anthropology, and a BA in Sociology. Uştuk’s research interests include ethnographic study of Romani communities, with a specific focus on the critical intersections of housing, education, and labor market relations as well as intercultural communication, cultural identity, and urban ethnography. Since 2014, he has been a dedicated collaborator with local and national Roma organizations, NGOs, and governmental agencies. In 2019-2020, Dr. Uştuk was awarded an esteemed Applied Research Fellowship at the CEU Romani Studies Program.