Social and Symbolic Violence in the Construction Process of Turkey-Syria Border Wall in Hatay

After the fall of Berlin Wall in 1990, it is thought that any new Wall cannot be installed in the globalization era to restrain the circulation of capital, goods, political ideas or images as well as human in the World. However, the construction a Wall is still in-use to separate between peoples and the states. Walls is not only drawing borders but also reinforced the sovereignty and power of states using the Wall’s social, political and also symbolic violence. Beside installation process of a Wall includes social, economic and political relations as well as power dimensions.

This study focus on the local people’s experiences as social and symbolic power and violence in the construction process of the Turkey-Syria Border Wall. The installing Wall identifies both "inside" and "outside", as Anzaldua (1981) stated, in recent days. The construction process is started in Hatay and unique experience for the local people within different ways including dirty, dusty and huge trucks, crowded roads, broken infrastructure, noisy days and nights, many strangers and new regulations and prohibitions, and so on. While some dwellers accept that is good for them and security; some others complain and criticize nowadays’ extreme and tiresome precautions in their regions.

This study ask for these questions: How the local people are affected the construction process of the Wall in Hatay? How and what the wall symbolize for the local people? How the local people takes and evaluates advantages and disadvantages of the Wall?

Used data in this qualitatively designed ongoing research is provided by in-depth, focus group, many spontaneous interviews, small talks and observation in the border villages and neighborhoods of Hatay since July, 2017. The findings will be shared in the presentation. This study is supported by Hatay Mustafa Kemal University, Scientific Project Foundation by the Project Number: 16776.