23.12.2021
In the fourth Havle Meet-up, we seek answers to the questions such as “How can we explain the weakening of feminist organizations in Turkey despite the apparent increased interest in feminism and feminist practices? Within the frame of which similarities and differences can the situation in Turkey be discussed with the current course of feminist politics in the world?”.
The conversation to be held on December 23, titled “Imperceptible Multitude: Transformation of Feminist Subjectivities and Political Practices in Contemporary Turkey” includes the following themes:
In Turkey, recent years have witnessed both a decline in the policy-shaping capacity of feminist organizations and the simultaneous dissolution of some of these organizations which have played critical roles in the organization of women’s movements since the 1980s. For instance, following prolonged internal tensions, conflicts, and/or separations, the Socialist Feminist Collective (SFK), Amargi, İstanbul Feminist Collective, and Filmmor have been completely discontinued, while the Ankara Feminist Women’s Collective and many other initiatives have experienced similar conflicts and separations, even if they have not yet been dissolved. On the other hand, the number of women participating in the annual Feminist Night March that takes place in Istanbul on the eighth of March has been noticeably increasing every year. The number of feminist works of contemporary art, research and theory books, and websites with large follower bases has also been increasing day by day. Moreover, gender-egalitarian language is increasingly being adopted on social media and various leftist platforms. Thus, these developments beg the question of what explains the weakening of feminist organizations in Turkey despite the apparent increased interest in feminism and feminist practices. Is it possible to name new forms in feminist practices that differ from already existing political forms? How and where do these new forms emerge and differ from previous forms? Is it possible to relate this distinction to forms of neoliberal subjectivities, neoliberal labor regimes, and global movements? Within the frame of which similarities and differences can the situation in Turkey be discussed with the current course of feminist politics in the world?
Our fourth speaker at Havle, Bermal Küçük is a Ph.D. student in sociology at Koç University. She is currently writing her doctoral thesis titled “Transformation of Feminist Politics in Contemporary Turkey: Imperceptible Multitudes and the Changing Political Practices”. She was awarded the Şirin Tekeli Research Award organized by Sabancı University Gender and Women’s Studies Center in 2018 for her Ph.D. study. Her academic and political interests include Feminist Politics, Feminist Theory, Feminist Activism, Kurdish Women’s Movement in Turkey, Political Ecology, Organic, and Post-Organic Food Initiatives. She is currently working in the website team of Feminist Bellek.
HAVLE MEET-UPS – 4
Imperceptible Multitude: Transformation of Feminist Subjectivities and Political Practices in Contemporary Turkey
Speaker: Bermal Küçük
Moderation: Şehide Zehra Keleş
Date: 23 December 2021, Thursday
Time: 19:00-21:00
Application
For questions and contact info@havlekadin.com
Meet-ups are planned to be held every two weeks.
Meet-ups are closed to the participation of non-trans men.
HAVLE KADIN