From Gaziantep houses to apartments: Practises of experiencing the place of women

The aim of this study is to examine the practice of experiencing the place of women who live in traditional Gaziantep houses and move to an apartment after living in these houses for a part of their lives, and to what extent these practices are common and differentiated. The main problematic of the study is the perception of the place where 15 participants live in the neighborhoods where traditional Gaziantep houses are located (Tışlaki, Şekeroğlu and Türktepe neighborhoods), as well as 15 participants who previously resided in these houses but currently reside in the neighborhoods where apartments are located (Yeditepe, Batıkent and Atatürk neighborhoods) and how and in what ways their experiences are affected by the gender regime. In this study, in which the qualitative research method was used, in-depth interviews were conducted with 30 women in total. Despite the increase in research on gender and place, the qualitative context of the gender and home relationship has not been adequately examined. For this reason, this research tries to make visible the efforts of women to exist in daily life by focusing on the perceptions, senses, attitudes and practices of women. The results of the study indicate that the gender attitudes and habitus of women who live in traditional Gaziantep houses and move from these houses to apartments for various reasons are largely similar. In addition, it has been determined that women have intersecting and differentiating experiences on the axis of categories such as class, ethnicity, age, belief, etc. Finally, while describing the experiences of women about the place, it was seen that they entered the competition for the best performance of femininity against traditional Gaziantep houses and apartments, and in this respect, they have continued their traditional gender roles. Key Words: Traditional Gaziantep Houses, Apartments, Place, Gender, Intersectionality, Habitus