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- Irgil, Ezgi
(author)
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Broadening the positionality in migration studies: Assigned insider category
- 2021
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In: Migration Studies. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 2049-5846 .- 2049-5838. ; 9:3, s. 1215-1229
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article contributes to the debates on positionality in migration studies by introducing assigned insider as a new category. I define it as a position when both the interviewees and the researcher are of the same local origin in which the researcher is considered ‘an insider of the host community’ and the interview questions are about a migrant group. I developed this category based on interviews with host community members during my field study in Bursa, Turkey, where I was born and raised. Previous studies focused on the researcher being an insider from a migrant community or being an outsider conducting research on a migrant community different from his/her own. Assigned insider has two elements that require it to be considered differently: same local origin operates as an overriding feature that goes beyond ethnicity and the interviewees being from the host community involves different ethical aspects than that from a migrant community. I argue that these reflect on the researcher during the interviews through active and passive discontent manifestations of the interviewees. While the former emphasises the direct confrontations of the interviewees that lead them to ‘correct’ the researcher, the latter manifests itself through non-verbal ways, which can result in refraining from answering questions.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Irgil, Ezgi
(author)
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Everyday Politics of Forced Migration: Refugees, Host Community Members, and the Local Context
- 2021
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This dissertation adds to and broadens the literature on forced migration by explaining how everyday politics influence new social dynamics in cities of arrival. Most of the existing research focuses on the Western context and highlights the cultural differences between the host community members and the refugees who arrive from outside of Europe and North America. To analyse whether these findings are applicable in non–Western contexts, I examine a South–South forced migration context in which both groups share the religion (Islam) but not the language (Turkish vs Arabic) through the case of Çarşamba (a district of the province of Bursa in Turkey). I argue that everyday politics has been overlooked in the literature and explain why everyday politics is important to understand the new social dynamics following a refugee influx that leads to sudden demographic changes. I analyse the dynamics of everyday politics between host community members and refugees and their perceptions of local state authorities through two research streams: local governance and intergroup encounters. I expand these research streams by engaging them with the role of urban public spaces in everyday politics. I theorise that both host community members and refugees engage in micro manifestations of implicit and explicit reactions to sudden demographic change in their everyday lives. I demonstrate this in three different research papers. In the first paper, I study the role of positionality in conducting interviews with host community members as a host community member in a forced migration context. In the second paper, I analyse the relationship between intergroup encounters in urban public spaces. In the third paper, I study local refugee governance practices to analyse their influence on the everyday lives of refugees. I thereby make methodological, theoretical, and conceptual contributions to forced migration studies. The results show that everyday politics is a key aspect in explaining why social conflict is not specific to South–North forced migration contexts and can also be observed in South–South contexts.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Irgil, Ezgi, et al.
(author)
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Field Research: A Graduate Student's Guide
- 2021
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In: International Studies Review. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1521-9488 .- 1468-2486. ; 23:4, s. 1495-1517
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- What is field research? Is it just for qualitative scholars? Must it be done in a foreign country? How much time in the field is “enough”? A lack of disciplinary consensus on what constitutes “field research” or “fieldwork” has left graduate students in political science underinformed and thus underequipped to leverage site-intensive research to address issues of interest and urgency across the subfields. Uneven training in Ph.D. programs has also left early-career researchers underprepared for the logistics of fieldwork, from developing networks and effective sampling strategies to building respondents’ trust, and related issues of funding, physical safety, mental health, research ethics, and crisis response. Based on the experience of five junior scholars, this paper offers answers to questions that graduate students puzzle over, often without the benefit of others’ “lessons learned.” This practical guide engages theory and praxis, in support of an epistemologically and methodologically pluralistic discipline.
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| 6. |
- Irgil, Ezgi
(author)
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Intergroup Encounters in Urban Public Spaces: Everyday Strategies of Host Community Members Following a Refugee Influx
- 2024
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In: International Migration Review. - : SAGE Publications. - 0197-9183 .- 1747-7379. ; 58:1, s. 386-409
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Some host community members (HCMs) develop positive attitudes toward refugees, while others do not. The current literature on perceptions of refugees offers different explanations for these varied responses to intergroup encounters (positive contact, negative contact, and exposure). Nevertheless, few scholars have examined the outcomes of intergroup relations at the microlevel to better understand the various impacts of intergroup encounters between HCMs and refugees. Even fewer scholars have focused on the everyday implications of HCMs' attitudes toward refugees in response to changing local demographics. In this article, I argue that in addition to the type of intergroup encounters, the locations where these encounters occur at the neighborhood level serve as a critical factor in understanding HCMs' sociospatial attitudes or their attitudes toward refugees at the microlevel of everyday life. In doing so, I introduce the concept of everyday strategies to describe the sociospatial attitudes that HCMs adopt in different types of urban public spaces following their encounters with refugees in neighborhoods that have experienced a large refugee influx. Empirically, the analysis draws on interviews conducted with 60 HCMs in Bursa, Turkey, in 2018 and, through the concept of everyday strategies, extends the literature on HCMs' attitudes regarding refugees. Overall, this article contributes to the wider study of international migration by detailing the influence of microlevel intergroup encounters on HCMs' sociospatial attitudes in a South-South forced migration context.
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| 8. |
- Irgil, Ezgi
(author)
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Multi-level Governance as an Alternative: The Municipality of Barcelona and the Ciutat Refugi Plan
- 2016
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In: Glocalism. - 2283-7949. ; 3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper analyses the response of the Municipality of Barcelona to the Syrian refugee crisis in Europe as an alternative solution that challenges the national government’s restrictive approach. This response introduces the Ciutat Refugi Plan with a city-to-city network at the municipal level that involves other European cities in creating safe routes for refugees at the local government level. In line with multi-level governance theory, I argue that central governments’ inaction has pressured local governments to take action during the Syrian refugee influx. Relying on the influence of local government networks, the Municipality of Barcelona uses discourse as a tool of action in opening discursive spaces for humanitarian political responses to the refugee crisis. Using critical discourse analysis, I test this argument by examining in-depth interviews, speeches of people in power that have appeared in news articles, and statements on official websites.
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| 9. |
- Irgil, Ezgi
(author)
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When the Government Comes to the Neighbourhood: Everyday Regulations and Syrian Refugees' Encounters with Local State Authorities
- 2022
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In: Journal of Refugee Studies. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0951-6328 .- 1471-6925. ; 35:2, s. 893-909
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- How do refugees perceive the regulations of government officials in their neighbourhoods? To answer this question, I introduce the concept of everyday regulations and define it as all practices, formal and informal, implemented by local authorities to manage, organise, and control refugees' daily lives within neighbourhood spaces. I support my concept with an empirical analysis based on 40 semi-structured interviews with Syrian shop owners and shop workers in Bursa, Turkey, conducted in September and October 2019. I analyse perceptions related to two types of everyday regulations: (1) Syrian shop visits by the municipal police (Zabita) and (2) handouts distributed in the neighbourhood by the provincial directorate of security (Emniyet Mudurlugu). My findings reveal that Syrian shop owners perceive everyday regulations as both discriminatory and acceptable. Those with discriminatory perceptions assess these regulations in terms of exclusionary treatment by local authorities, while those whose perceptions label encounters with government officials as acceptable associate these interactions with learning Turkey's customs and laws. By detailing the differences in refugees' perceptions of local refugee governance, this study unveils potential explanations for why some local refugee policies are perceived better than others.
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| 10. |
- Islar, Mine, et al.
(author)
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Grassroots practices of citizenship and politicization in the urban: the case of right to the city initiatives in Barcelona
- 2018
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In: Citizenship Studies. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1362-1025 .- 1469-3593. ; 22:5, s. 491-506
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article aims to produce an analysis of the politicization of the citizens after Spain's Indignados movement from a citizenship framework. The article suggests that claiming the right to the city involves more than issues of access to urban amenities: it is also about claiming the right to participate in the formation and transformation of the city and the right to appropriate the city center. This positions these rights within the larger issue of citizenship by defining it as a collective practice rather than a state-sanctioned status. Our analysis is based on the empirical evidence derived from the semi-structured interviews, politicians' speeches, information based on media resources and official websites, and participant observation during three months of fieldwork in Barcelona in 2016.
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