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A Discursive Analysis of Gezi Park Protests A View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Istanbul Sehir University Repository FROM A LOCAL PROTEST TO AN ANTI-GOVERNMENT MASS MOVEMENT: A DISCURSIVE ANALYSIS OF GEZI PARK PROTESTS A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF İSTANBUL ŞEHİR UNIVERSITY BY CAHİDE ZEYNEP ENGİNAR IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN SOCIOLOGY MARCH 2016 ABSTRACT FROM A LOCAL PROTEST TO AN ANTI-GOVERNMENT MASS MOVEMENT: A DISCURSIVE ANALYSIS OF GEZI PARK PROTESTS Enginar, Cahide Zeynep MA, Department of Sociology Supervisor: Prof. Mesut Yeğen March 2016, 92 pages This study aims to analyze the extent to which the Gezi Park protests achieved to become hegemonic. The protests commenced locally with a group of protesters who opposed to the project of reconstructing an old barrack which had existed in the Gezi Park in the past. However, the protests turned into an anti-government mass movement with an unprecedented heterogeneity thanks to the participation of groups with different demands and identities and they mobilized people for several weeks. This study uses discourse analytical theory of Laclau and Mouffe to analyze the Gezi Park protests as a political struggle. Based on the interviews conducted with the Gezi Park protesters from different identity groups, the study seeks to understand how so many diverse and opposing groups having different demands came together, how they managed to stay together in the park and what they proposed to transform social relations through their struggle. The study investigates the protesters’ reasons for participation, the conflicts among different groups of protesters which undermined their unity, how these conflicts were managed, the protesters’ problems with the government and the demands of the protesters. The study concludes that the Gezi Park protests displayed an antagonistic relation with the government. This, it is argued, made it possible for the protests to bring together a wide range of groups having different demands. However, despite its initial success in mobilizing people having different demands, this study argues, the protests failed to produce a collective identity out of its heterogeneous fabric and this was due to the fact that the act of naming the protests was not achieved. The protests, it is concluded, failed to initiate a hegemonic construction which would aim to change social relations in Turkey. iv Keywords: Discourse analysis, Gezi Park, social movements, hegemony, antagonism v ÖZ YEREL BİR PROTESTODAN HÜKÛMET KARŞITI KİTLESEL HAREKETE: GEZİ PARKI PROTESTOLARININ SÖYLEMSEL ANALİZİ Enginar, Cahide Zeynep MA, Sosyoloji Bölümü Tez Danışmanı: Prof. Dr. Mesut Yeğen Mart 2016, 92 sayfa Bu çalışma Gezi Parkı protestolarının ne ölçüde hegemonik olabildiğini analiz etmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Protestolar Gezi Parkı’na Topçu Kışlası’nın yeniden inşa edilmesi projesine karşı çıkan bir grup eylemciyle başladı. Fakat Protestolar farklı kimlik ve taleplere sahip grupların katılımı sayesinde Türkiye tarihinde benzeri görülmemiş bir heterojenlik arz eden hükûmet karşıtı kitlesel bir harekete dönüştü ve haftalarca insanları sokağa döktü. Bu çalışma Gezi Parkı protestolarının siyasi bir mücadele olarak analizinde Laclau ve Mouffe tarafından geliştirilmiş olan söylem kuramını kullanmaktadır. Çalışma, Gezi Parkı protestolarına katılmış çeşitli gruplardan eylemcilerle gerçekleştirilen mülakatlar üzerinden karşıt grupların nasıl bir araya geldiklerini, haftalarca parkta birlikte kalmayı nasıl başardıklarını ve bu siyasi mücadeleleriyle sosyal ilişkileri dönüştürmek için ne önerdiklerini anlamaya çalışmaktadır. Bu amaçla eylemcilerin katılma sebepleri, farklı gruplar arasındaki eylemlerdeki birliği zayıflatacak çelişki ve çatışmalar, bu çelişkilerin nasıl idare edildiği, eylemcilerin AK Parti hükûmetiyle olan sorunları ve eylemcilerin talepleri araştırılmıştır. Çalışmada Gezi Parkı protestolarının hükûmetle antagonistik bir ilişki sergilediği sonucu çıkarılmıştır. Bu durumun protestoların farklı taleplere sahip çok sayıda grubu bir araya getirmesini mümkün kıldığı iddia edilmektedir. Fakat protestoların farklı kimlik ve taleplere sahip insanları harekete geçirmekteki başarısına rağmen, bu heterojen dokudan bir kolektif kimlik üretmeyi başaramadığı ve bunun protestoların adını koyma eyleminin gerçekleştirilememesine bağlı olduğu öne sürülmektedir. Protestoların Türkiye’deki sosyal ilişkileri değiştirmeyi amaçlayan bir hegemonik inşa başlatmakta başarısız olduğu sonucuna varılmıştır. vi Anahtar Kelimeler: Söylem analizi, Gezi Parkı, toplumsal hareketler, hegemonya, antagonizma vii canım babama… viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my special gratitude to my advisor Mesut Yeğen for his guidance, criticism and suggestions throughout the study. It would not have been possible to complete this study without his invaluable support. I also would also like to thank to the examining committee members of the thesis, Ferhat Kentel and Ebru Kayaalp, for their valuable contributions. I would like to thank TÜBİTAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) for providing me financial support throughout my graduate education through its 2210 National Graduate Scholarship Program. I would like to express the immense appreciation to my family for their love and support; my father Mahmut Enginar, my mother Emine Enginar, my sisters Nazife, Hatice, Ayşe Sehle and my brothers Muhammet and Mustafa Şamil for their patience, constant encouragement and emotional support during my studies. I am indebted to my many other friends and relatives. Special thanks goes to Mehmet Emin Şen, Sümeyye Karaarslan, Ayşe Nur Işık, Merve Nur Kayhan, Sena Belviranlı, Meryem Gürpınar, Hazal Duran, Ayşe Berre Karaman, Hüsna Zülfikar, Zeynep Erçetin, Betül Nesibe Özkars, Bahadır Çelebi for their unending support. I also owe my gratitude to Suheyb Öğüt for his academic support. I would like to thank İSAM for its library in Istanbul. Finally, I wish express acknowledgement all of the interviewees for agreeing to be interviewed and providing insights on the Gezi Park protests. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ iv ÖZ ............................................................................................................................... vi DEDICATION ............................................................................................................ vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................. x CHAPTERS 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 1.1. The Gezi Park protests: a radical democratic imaginary? ................................. 3 1.2. Method ............................................................................................................... 6 1.3. Literature on Gezi Park protests ........................................................................ 7 2. DISCOURSE THEORY ........................................................................................ 11 2.1. Foundations ..................................................................................................... 12 2.2. Roots ................................................................................................................ 12 2.2.1. Post Marxism ............................................................................................ 13 2.2.2. Derrida ...................................................................................................... 13 2.2.3. Lacanian psychoanalysis........................................................................... 15 2.3. Main concepts .................................................................................................. 17 2.3.1. Antagonism ............................................................................................... 17 2.3.2. Subject ...................................................................................................... 18 2.3.3. Hegemony ................................................................................................. 19 2.3.4. The priority of the political ....................................................................... 19 3. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................. 25 3.1. An introduction of the interviewees ................................................................ 28 4. A DISCURSIVE ANALYSIS OF THE GEZI PARK EVENTS .......................... 32 4.1. Why to take part in Gezi .................................................................................. 32 4.2. Real antagonism in Gezi .................................................................................. 36 4.3. Symbolic antagonism in Gezi: the government .............................................. 41 4.3.1. Erdogan as master signifier....................................................................... 45 4.3.2. Masking antagonistic fissure of Gezi........................................................ 46 4.3.3. Sublimation of Gezi .................................................................................. 49 4.4. What is the matter with the government? .......................................................
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