Ghetto Machines
Ghetto Machines

Hip-Hop and Intra‑Urban Borders in Istanbul

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, I look at how the Istanbul hip-hop group Tahribad-ıİsyan has symbolized the expropriation of Sulukule, a predominantly Romanineighborhood demolished by municipal powers under the guise of urbanrenewal. By examining how the local government enacted this project, andshowing how similar neoliberal city management policies instigated widespreadsocial unrest across Turkey in 2013, I set the stage for a music videoanalysis that makes two ultimate claims. First, I propose that hip-hop enablesthe group to overcome the debilitating effects of enforced gentrification byrecasting Sulukule’s urban decay as a “ghettocentric” urban landscape.Second, and in dialogue with the work of the Turkish urban geographersOzan Karaman and Tolga Islam, I suggest that Tahribad-ı İsyan providesevidence of how music can construct bounded intra-urban identities amiddiscourses of borderless and open cities.

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