Description
Book SynopsisThis 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.
Trade ReviewIncorporating 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 Studies *
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. -- Anthony King, SUNY Binghamton
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 *
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 The Setting Chapter 3 Culture and Politics of Identity Chapter 4 Who Owns the Old Quarters? Rewriting Histories of the Global Era Chapter 5 Istanbul of the Conqueror: The "Alternative Global City" Dreams of Political Islam Chapter 6 The Historical Construction of "Local Culture": Politics of Islamist versus Secularist Identity Chapter 7 Islamic Chic Chapter 8 Contested Positions Chapter 9 Istanbulities and Others: The Cultural Cosmology of Being Middle Class in the Era of Globalism Chapter 10 Sounding Out: The Culture Industries and the Globalization of Istanbul Chapter 11 Negotiating Space Chapter 12 The Housing Market from Informal to Global Chapter 13 Where Do You Hail From? Localism and Networks in Istanbul Chapter 14 A Tale of Two Neighborhoods Chapter 15 Synopsis
