Selling Ethnic Neighborhoods by Volkan Aytar Jan Rath

Author:Volkan Aytar, Jan Rath [Volkan Aytar, Jan Rath]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780415719681
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2013-09-20T00:00:00+00:00

Sulukule and Roma’s Role in the Entertainment World

Sulukule, situated on the historic peninsula (see map), is one of the oldest Roma-populated neighbourhoods in Istanbul. Some scholars trace its history back to the eleventh-or twelfth-century Byzantine Empire.2 The neighbourhood’s population increased after the Ottoman conquest in 1453, when Roma groups engaged in basketry, metalwork and horse-raising were sent there to revive the local economy (Yılgür 2007). Forced or voluntary population movements such as these were an important part of the empire’s demographic policies whereby different groups were moved to various regions and/or neighbourhoods to ‘balance’ one another (see İnalcık 1997).

The Roma’s place, then, should be seen within the larger context of imperial demographic policies and social economy, organised along a functional ‘ethnic division of labour’ whereby different communities were channelled to particular vocations and localities. Note, however, that the use of the term ‘ethnic’ is problematic for Ottoman times, where confessional divisions were based on the millet system.3 Although the system did not entail the forced vocational, sectoral or employment-based clustering of millets or other confessional/‘ethnic’ groups, there remained certain economic ‘expectations’. The Roma as a Muslim, non-millet group were mainly involved in basketry, metalwork, horse-raising, entertainment and related services. As will be discussed below, the Roma’s ‘inclination’ towards consumption-oriented services should be seen in relation to larger socio-economic forces and administrative arrangements.

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