RECONSTRUCTION OF DAILY LIFE BETWEEN TWO CULTURES: SYRIAN WOMEN LIVING IN ANTAKYA
RECONSTRUCTION OF DAILY LIFE BETWEEN TWO CULTURES: SYRIAN WOMEN LIVING IN ANTAKYA

Author(s): Aylin Eraslan
Subject(s): Anthropology, Gender Studies, Geography, Regional studies, Civil Law, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Migration Studies, Identity of Collectives
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: Turkey; Antakya; migration; Syrian women; culture; daily life; identity;
Summary/Abstract: Migration is common to all human groups since many thousands of years. There are various reasons why people move from one place to another. Epidemics, famine, natural disasters, changes in climate and political factors are some of these reasons. Hence, migration is an ongoing process that involves historical and strategic elements. Migration, whether on an individual or mass scale, is strategic as it involves actions that are carefully determined and planned in order to leave adverse circumstances behind and move to a new and better place. This study deals with forced migration on an international scale rather than movements based on individual choice, the displacement of Syrians who had to leave their homeland. Forced migration, no matter what its initiator is, involves a dramatic rupture, a detachment. The one who has to migrate has to leave his/her home and homeland as well as loved ones, living or dead, behind. All of those left behind is to remain in the memories of the migrant. This forced abandoning causes an emotional burnout which is usually reflected in tears, sighs and trills during narratives told by migrants. This is why forced migration is much more than a geographical transposition.

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