Memory and emotions in the identity construction: The Algerian descendants in Adana

This thesis examines the identity formation of Algerian descendants in Adana and Kozan based on the narratives of three different generations to understand how they define and give meaning to their identity and belonging in Turkey. The research aims to explain what it means to be Algerian descendants in Turkey and live between two cultures and analyze how diasporic identity formed. For this, I conducted 20 recorded interviews, attended different community gatherings, and engaged in participant observation. The study considers both individual and collective identity theories to investigate identity formation in a diaspora. The findings suggest that interlocutors' identity construction was influenced by nostalgia and collective memory transmitted through generations. Moreover, the interlocutors' emotional connection to Algeria led to creating a utopian nostalgic version of it through which they sustain their ethnic identity. Observation in the field suggests that Algerian descendants have solid emotional ties to the homeland through their religious affiliation, culture, symbols, and customs, but this belonging changes according to generation. The study shows that generations experienced different political contexts in Turkey regarding otherizing and discrimination of minorities, leading them to position and negotiate their identity strategically. Interlocutors also negotiate their belonging to Turkey through narratives, symbols, and "usable" memories that legitimize their presence. Thus, this research shows the emergence of a hybrid identity as a strategy of integration and belonging. It is also argued that hybrid identities emerge, nurture, and are negotiated in diasporic spaces. In this sense, this study contributes to the "third-space" (Bhabha 1994)conceptualization by exploring the diasporic space through memory and emotion repertoires. This research is the first to focus on the identity formation of Algerian descendants in Adana and Kozan; it contributes in that sense to the literature on Algerian diaspora identity but also to the contemporary Turkish and Algerian historiography. Keywords: Belonging, Hybridity, Identity, Memory, Nostalgia, Third-space.