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Available From UC Press
Istanbul, City of the Fearless
Based on extensive field research in Turkey, Istanbul, City of the Fearless explores social movements and the broader practices of civil society in Istanbul in the critical years before and after the 1980 military coup, the defining event in the neoliberal reengineering of the city. Bringing together developments in anthropology, urban studies, cultural geography, and social theory, Christopher Houston offers new insights into the meaning and study of urban violence, military rule, activism and spatial tactics, relations between political factions and ideologies, and political memory and commemoration. This book is both a social history and an anthropological study, investigating how activist practices and the coup not only contributed to the globalization of Istanbul beginning in the 1980s but also exerted their force and influence into the future.
“An eloquent and engaging book on spatial politics. It is exceptional not only in its discussion of activists’ political-spatial practices and how these shaped Istanbul’s urban landscape, but also in its analytical approach to studying the relation between urban political activism and the social production of the city. Bringing together a robust theoretical framework with in-depth empirical research, this has the potential to become a reference book in urban political activism.”––Joost Jongerden, Associate Professor, Do-It-Yourself Development, Wageningen University