Constructing Migrant Foodscapes and Social Networks: The Case of Syrian Migrants in Fatih, Istanbul

Abstract

This research explores the link between food, culture, and migration by examining the Syrian food premises in Istanbul’s Fatih district -one of the most popular settlement areas for Syrian refugees in Turkey- by conducting semi-structured deep interviews (82 people) and participant observation. Rather than focusing on the refugee households, I concentrate on the public café-restaurants, food markets, delis, herbalists etc. as places of contestation and negotiation for Syrian people to construct new social/economic ties and to claim a right to the city. Social networks for Syrian migrants are of utmost importance because they struggle to build new lives in the metropolitan cities almost completely relying on their own social networks and financial capital. The food premises (mainly café-restaurants) in Fatih emerge as distinct places where we can trace the ways Syrian migrants build/maintain or transform social bonds, shared identities, cultural traditions, socio-economic ties, daily-life habits, consumption-production patterns and so on. However, these networks might also counteract as mechanisms of exclusion for Syrian migrants both hindering social cohesion with the receiving society and continuing the fellowship- kinship ties. My study offers field-driven discussion points to gain more insight into these intricate relationships among migrant foodways, socio-cultural integration and social networks.