Bazaars as places of social memory: The case Antalya bazaars

Broadly, memory refers to the conscious or unconscious preservation, continuation, and transmission of the past and its manifestations, knowledge and practices, cultural codes and symbolic representations, and oral or written arts by individuals and societies. This process takes place at both individual and collective levels through minds, bodies, rituals, commemorations, celebrations, spatial frameworks, monuments, or symbolic elements. These dynamics that shape the construction of memory also point to the reference elements of the act of remembering. Cities, urban spaces, and spatial textures, which play a role in the construction of collective memory, are the places where the memory is located and preserved. Memory and spatial frameworks are mutually constitutive and influential. In this regard, understanding the relationship between memory, collective memory, and space is essential. Bazaars (traditional marketplaces), which are embedded in the urban fabric, are more than architectural structures: they are inseparable elements of the city in their historical, social, and cultural contexts. These spaces represent the commercial, cultural, economic, and social life of their surrounding region or city, as well as its identity and fabric. Bazaars are both the subject and the object of memory. They function as memory sites while simultaneously constructing collective memory. In this sense, individuals' relations, interactions, experiences, and perceptions of bazaars are critical for understanding how memory is constructed through space. This study investigates the bazaars and collective memory within the framework of the relationship between memory, collective memory, and space. Its central query is how bazaars construct memory, how practices of remembering and forgetting are shaped in this process, and how transformations of bazaars influence the phenomenon of memory as well as forms of remembering and forgetting. The research was carried out in Antalya in the following historic bazaars: Demirciler İçi Çarşısı, İki Kapılı Han, Tek Kapılı Han, Pazar Hamamı, Zincirli Han, Kalekapısı-Kapalıyol, Dönerciler Çarşısı, and Kaleiçi bazaars. Drawing on these historic bazaars as research sites, the study aims to analyse the cultural and spatial elements shaping bazaars culture; their historical, economic, and social contexts; their importance and functions; their representations in the city; and how they take place in collective memory and contribute to its construction. Methodologically, the study employs a phenomenological approach. Qualitative data were gathered through in-depth interviews with 58 participants (7 women and 51 men), all of whom were bazaar shopkeepers or artisans. Fieldwork was conducted between April–October 2022 and January 2024. The findings were analysed under eight main themes and their related sub-themes.