Collis, E.; (2005) The multiple modernities of a coastal village in Turkey. Doctoral thesis , University of London.

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Abstract

In the thesis I give a multi-sided account of the impact of tourism-oriented migration on the resident community of Kalkan, a small coastal town in south-western Turkey. In 2001 Kalkan attracted migrants, from all over Turkey, to run or work in its seasonal tourism-oriented enterprises, which reproduced the town as the idyllic village (re)presented in international tour operator's marketing materials, and therefore expected by its predominantly British visitors. These in-migrants arrived as local residents out-migrated to work the summer pastures in Bezirgan. The migratory flow of the two groups meant that Kalkan's resident community changed with the season producing two shifting but inter-linked communities, a Turkish town (winter) and a tourist destination (summer). I focus on the ways in which the collective adapted existing social conventions based on obligation and respect such as the family, friendship and place of origin (memlekei) to ensure community stability. I examined how these conventions extended to include expatriates and tourists living in and visiting Kalkan. I re-evaluate the flexibility of conventions, where the majority of in-migrants lacked any connection to the collective. I illustrate the importance of shared regions, professional ties and property relations in establishing locality, where social relations, accessible from residents' life-styles and property investments, make relatives of migrants and friends of expatriates. I argue that local social conventions based on the overarching ideology of the family do adapt to cope with seasonal transition and local social change. I argue that the division of the community into sub-communities, which contain potential rivalries, while at the same time obliging them to interact, serves as an example of adaptability. The finding that individuals experienced migration in particular ways requires that anthropologists reconsider each place as multi-sited: neither socially constructed nor experiential but inherently multiple and extremely complex.

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