Istanbul: Between the Global and the Local (World Social Change) [Paperback]

Caglar Keyder (Editor), Ayfer Bartu (Contributor), Tanil Bora (Contributor), Sema Erder (Contributor), Ayse Oncu (Contributor), Martin Stokes (Contributor), Jenny White (Contributor), Yael Navaro-Yasin (Contributor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 084769495X | ISBN-13: 978-0847694952 | Publication Date: September 1, 1999

This groundbreaking volume investigates the processes of globalization in one of the oldest and grandest of world cities. Istanbul usually is identified as a battleground between East and West, Islam and secularism. Yet the authors argue that beyond these clichZs lies a complex reality as Istanbulites simultaneously try to accommodate, understand, challenge, and shape the sweeping transformations that globalization has brought to their city. Explaining the course of the conflicts and the compromises involved in maintaining a precarious urbanity, this theoretically informed volume focuses on fields of struggle ranging from politics to heritage, humor to music, public space to housing.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Incorporating everything from politics to music, the essays demonstrate the complex, yet inevitable, exchange of space , culture and identity that the city and its inhabitants experience as the result of globalizationnnnn (Middle East Journal )

This provocative collection of essays reveals the complex relationship between the 'global' and the 'local' in the context of contemporary Istanbul. This book is highly recommended. . . . An interdisciplinary volume that pins down the most important debates about cultural identity, representation, and social and spatial processes within the era of globalization. (Progress In Human Geography )

Istanbul takes a fairly unique look at the challenges being faced by the city during this period of contemporary globalization, taking into consideration multiple factors, such as religion, culture, and class. (American Journal Of Islamic Social Sciences )

The volume is worth reading not only because it provides a general understanding of recent developments in the historical world city of Istanbul, but also because it provides new perspectives for global city hypothesis. (Environment and Planning )

This insightful volume shows us once more that globalism takes unique shapes and leads to unexpected outcomes in the different locales where it is realized. (Cssh )

The most refreshing new book on the 'world city' debate to appear in the last decade. The essays open up the conflictual cultural politics of 'going global' in a cosmopolitan city that has long belonged to different worlds. The authors provide fascinating insights into the uncertain outcomes that globalization has brought to Istanbul. It's original, lively, and puts culture and politics right back on the agenda. (King, Anthony )

Incorporating everything from politics to music, the essays demonstrate the complex, yet inevitable, exchange of space , culture and identity that the city and its inhabitants experience as the result of globalization (Middle East Journal )

About the Author

Caglar Keyder is professor of sociology at Bogazici University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 210 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 084769495X
• ISBN-13: 978-0847694952
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,000,460 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating reconceptualization of global/local in Istanbul, January 5, 2000

By 

somebody (Lexington, KY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Istanbul: Between the Global and the Local (World Social Change) (Paperback)

This book is a must for anyone seriously interested in Istanbul. Not a travel guide, this book is a collection of essays by Turkish scholars addressing the cultural and material significance of both the "global-city project" in Istanbul and the influx of migrants from rural Turkey. Keyder's brilliant analyses (he contributes three essays to the collection) are matched by the other contributions, all of which are historically and theoretically grounded. Anyone interested in urban studies, world-cities, the global/local dialectic or Turkey today will benefit from reading this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a fine collection on contemporary Istanbul, April 21, 2006

By 

tarihci202 "tarihci202" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Istanbul: Between the Global and the Local (World Social Change) (Paperback)

This volume, Istanbul: Between the Global and Local, contains a series of essays on contemporary society in Istanbul, with an emphasis on the ways in which globalization has interacted with local realities in that city. While the essays are not always strong, many of them are, with the essays by Keyder, Martin Stokes, and Jenny White worthy of particular note. For students of Middle Eastern or Turkish culture and cultural politics, this volume is well worth while. For people with more general interests, it is probably too specialized. Below is the table of contents:

Introduction

The Setting, Caglar Keyder

Who Owns the Old Quarters? Rewriting Histories of the Global Era
Ayfer Bartu

Istanbul of the Conqueror: The "Alternative Global City" Dreams of Political Islam Tanil Bora

The Historical Construction of "Local Culture": Politics of Islamist versus Secularist Identity Yael Navaro-Yasin

Islamic Chic Jenny White

Istanbulities and Others: The Cultural Cosmology of Being Middle Class in the Era of Globalism Ayse Oncu

Sounding Out: The Culture Industries and the Globalization of Istanbul Martin Stokes

The Housing Market from Informal to Global Caglar Keyder

Where Do You Hail From? Localism and Networks in Istanbul Sema Erder

A Tale of Two Neighborhoods Caglar Keyder

Synopsis Caglar Keyder

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Changing Istanbul, September 23, 2001

By 

Muzaffer Muctehitzade "hacibey" (Boston, Ma USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Istanbul: Between the Global and the Local (World Social Change) (Paperback)

This is not a Travel Guide. It is an anatomy of a cosmopolitan city.The book is about changing Istanbul in last 100 years with most of the emphasis is given to last 50 years when the real change occured. It is about the strugle between secular city view and traditional or Islamic city view for Istanbul. How the mayors tried to give different images to Istanbul based on their political affiliations. How migration from rural areas into cities specifically into istanbul changed the city, it's image and social structure. Although I have my doubts that those who set the policies had the image of the city in mind or if the result was by product of their policies is questionable but two different views constantly reshaped the city.
The scope also extends much broader areas such as Music,fashion and life.