Rural‒Urban Mobilities in Turkey: Socio-spatial Perspectives on Migration and Return Movements

Abstract

Based on original data, this article discusses rural-urban mobilities and the contemporary employment-migration relationship. Starting with the observation of reduced rural population but maintained family-farm numbers, it engages with multiple issues, including rural employment, the process of urban migration, settlement in the city, the relation of migrants to the rurality and (return) countermigration. It supports the thesis that migration is not so much about a 'movement from one place to another' , the classical migration definition, and more about a coupling of practices (related to mobilities, residence, employment, etc.) with places over time. Thus, migration and counter-migration are conceptualized as socio-spatial strategies, conceptualized as 'multi-place living' or 'dual life' , which are based on variable engagements with rural farming, urban wage labour and return movements (for retirement, refuge, etc.). The newly emergent and growing dual/multi-place structures that result from this are reshaping village life in particular, expressed in various ways, such as in a changing village demography and function.

Reshaping the future of ethnobiology research after the COVID-19 pandemic

“…At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic may lead people to consider immigration back to rural areas; that is, a lifestyle closer to nature. Previous to COVID-19, the declining labour demand in agriculture provoked high rates of migration from rural to urban areas in Turkey 22 . However, the pandemic has now inevitably halted life, especially in large cities, where large numbers of people with close interpersonal relationships are confined to small areas.…”

Gendered property and labour relations in agriculture: implications for social change in Turkey

“…In contrast, younger men, who are disadvantaged in relation to their elder brother(s) concerning land inheritance, are encouraged to gain an education, migrate to urban areas, and join paid employment. However, the only way for women to migrate to urban areas is marriage (Erman, 2001;Kentel, Emre-Öğün, & Öztürk, 2017;Öztürk, Topaloğlu, Hilton, & Jongerden, 2017). As it is a precondition of marriage to rural women, husbands of immigrant brides are often single male breadwinners providing regular income either as wageworkers or self-employed (Erman, 1998).…”

“…Research on the dynamics of agrarian change in Turkey focuses on the role of capitalist development in initiating a rapid de-ruralisation (Keyder &Yenal, 2011), establishing semiproletarianization in rural areas (Kentel et al, 2017;Öztürk et al, 2017), increasing the prevalence of wage labour through contract farming (Gürel, Küçük, & Taş, 2019), or introducing the process of de-agrarianization -led by the Turkish state and the transnational agribusiness companies (Aydın, 2010). Since the 2000s, the peasantry has increasingly faced the market-mediated forces of dispossession.…”

Chemical Exposure in Everyday Life and Human Health Effects

“…1950'de şehirlerde ki nüfus, toplam nüfusun %18.1'ünü oluştururken, 2000 yılında bu rakam % 65'e ulaşmıştır [2]. 2014 yılı itibariyle ise bu rakam % 90 iken, 2016'da % 92'ye yükselmiştir [3,4]. Bu kaygı verici artış pek çok problemi beraberinde getirmiştir.…”