Article
Constructing a Refugee Through Producing a Refugee Space: Russian Migrants in Occupied Istanbul (1919‐22)
International Journal of Islamic Architecture
(2021)
Abstract
Migration is a natural tendency of human society. Solidification of the modern nation-state led to the regularized protection of states’ borders and territory and reduced the ability of migrants to negotiate their integration into a host society. The political and economic turmoil of the era following the First World War exacerbated the problematic relationships between the nation-state and migrants. Many migrants were excluded from the normal territorial and legal space of post-war global society and were categorized under a new political label as refugees. With the example of Russian Civil War (1918-21) refugees in Istanbul, the article investigates the process of constructing a refugee identity among these people. This included producing a refugee space, which was accomplished through imagining space as a resource, reimagining the meaning of Istanbul, constructing refugee camps, and engagement with the experience of the spatial hierarchy of Istanbul city life. I argue that the experience of Russian refugees in Istanbul after the First World War heavily contributed to the formation of today’s modern refugee regime.
Keywords
- Russian exile,
- refugee camps,
- migrants,
- occupied Istanbul,
- production of space,
- refugee regime
Disciplines
Publication Date
July 1, 2021
DOI
10.1386/ijia_00047_1
Citation Information
Timur Saitov. "Constructing a Refugee Through Producing a Refugee Space: Russian Migrants in Occupied Istanbul (1919‐22)" International Journal of Islamic Architecture Vol. 10 Iss. Number 2 (2021) p. 337 - 360 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/timursaitov/2/