Soylulaştırma, camia ve tüketim: Cihangir Cumhuriyeti'nin oluşturulması, keşfi ve sorgulanması

ABSTRACT GENTRIFICATION, COMMUNITY AND CONSUMPTION: CONSTRUCTING, CONQUERING AND CONTESTING "THE REPUBLIC OF CİHANGİR" Altanİlkuçan Msc, Department of Management Supervisor: Assistant Professor Özlem Sandıkçı February 2004 Gentrification is the process by which middle-class residents settle inner city neighborhood previously occupied by working-class. Gentrification has long been viewed as a consumption phenomenon, which is triggered by the urge of a certain fraction of a middle class - gentrifiers - to create and maintain distinction. Taking the case of Cihangir, Istanbul; this study is aimed at understanding the relationship between consumption and gentrification. The research is designed as an ethnographic account to discuss the developments taking place in Cihangir and trace how gentifiers construct, negotiate and experience the meanings of Cihangir. The transformations in the retailscape of Cihangir are also observed in order to gain a further understanding of the relationship between consumption and gentrification. The data are collected through qualitative research methods. These are in-depth interviews and participant observation - a field research of forty-two days over a three-month period. The findings indicate there emerged a strong sense of community among gentrifiers. This community is defined in opposition to various groups of perceived non-residents. These non-residents are identified as site residents, and "Etiler/Akmerkez types" of "Televole Culture". As informants draw in- and out-group boundaries in terms of consumption practices, the perceived community of among gentrifiers is regarded as a 'subculture of consumption' defined with certain consumption practices and guided by the internal ethos of "Cihangir Cumhuriyeti". At the core of the "Cihangir Cumhuriyeti" construct lie cosmopolitan tendencies and critical social practices of gentrifiers. The study concludes with a discussion of the contributions, limitations, and implications for future research. Key Words: Cihangir, Cihangir Cumhuriyeti, Community, Consumption Communities, Consumption of Space, Cosmopolitanism, Critical Social Practice, Extended-self, Gentrification, Inner urban Lifestyle, Modernity, Neighborhood, Subcultures of consumption, "Televole Culture" 111