How Social Movements Transform Ethnic Boundaries: Democratization, Ethnicity and Anti-Kurdish Communal Violence in Turkey

• In Event: 452 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 01. Mobilization and Social Movements

Abstract

This paper examines how social movement mobilization of minorities can alter ethnic boundaries and become critical in the emergence of civilian forms of ethnic violence. Redirecting focus from the role of institutions and political elites that predominate analyses on democratization and ethnic violence, the paper analyzes social relations and struggles between civilians on the ground in the post-conflict democratization periods. Through an analysis of anti-Kurdish communal violence in Turkey in the 21st century, the paper shows that social movement mobilization by minorities demanding inclusion and recognition, which I call as ‘democratization-from-below,’ plays a significant role in the transformation of ethnic boundaries on the ground and makes ethnicity a politically salient cleavage. This transformation is marked by a contestation over ethnic boundaries, which incorporates actual as well as symbolic violence. A key finding of the paper is that violence is not merely an outcome of increasing polarization, and becomes both a strategy to enforce old boundaries and reduce uncertainties by dominant populations.

Author

• Sefika Kumral, Johns Hopkins University