Identity and belonging of Usbeks living in Antakya

This thesis, in 1982, which is located in the Antakya been settled that the Uzbeks are subject identity and belonging structures formed due to cultural interaction. The study aimed to provide an insight into the ways in which they communicated with local people and built their common life spaces. Thus, it allowed to see how identity and belongingness of Uzbeks were shaped and reconstructed, revealing the factors that had an impact in shaping their sense of belonging. The study is based on findings from the preliminary research from June toJuly 2011and the fieldwork I conducted from September 2011to January 28th 2012 and from February 8th to July 2012.In this study, I used participant observation and in-depth interviews as techniquessupporting the qualitative research. I tried to gain insight intothe findings from the field on the basis of the subjective and objective criteria defined by Fredrik Barth. I tried to understand Uzbeks' clothing, lifestyle, food culture, daily life practices, marital preferences, traditions etc. as well as the words they used when they were identifying themselves. Thus, I aimed to understand the ways in which they express themselves and reconstruct their identities as a result of interaction with local people. I have found that citizenship, education, military service, possession, political life, homeland, equal citizenship were important domains when the Uzbeks were reconstructing their identities and sense of belonging. Secondly, I examined the reflection of the factors that had an impact in reshaping their Uzbek identity such as marriage, occupation, neighbourhood, friendship and trust relationshipson the identity. Since the impact of these factors may have different outcomes through three generations, I paid attention to evaluate each generation in itself. I have noticed that the first generation, in general, displayed a conservative resistance to change while the second generation took a more positive attitude to change since they were aware of the fact that they needed to cope with changing living conditions, and they developed strategies between the tradition and the modern. And, the third generation who grew up in a different geography than their ancestors had reconstructed their identity and sense of belonging during this process of interaction. Keywords: Uzbeks, identity, belongingness, cultural interaction, Antakya, Afghanistan, Uzbeks living in Antakya.