Migration as Movement and Multiplace Life: Some Recent Developments in Rural Living Structures in Turkey

Abstract

Discussing recent trends and developments in migration and mobility affecting what may be referred to as a ‘reconstitution’ of villages, this paper discusses the changing character of rural settlement and settlement patterns in Turkey today. The binary division of rural and urban is questioned through a dialectical/relational approach to settlement formation, while settlement is defined by relation to (human) movement, itself understood as incorporating the modalities of migration and mobility. By focusing on the socio‐economics of increasing affluence, the advance of capital generally, and the introduction of neoliberalism into agriculture in particular, a number of contemporary rural‐oriented (migratory/mobility) movements and ‘living structures’ are investigated, which, taken together, suggest a growing development of ‘dual settlement’ and ‘multiplace hybrid’ life. The paper concludes with a typology of villages and some thoughts on the theoretical implications of this study. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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