Abstract
Bauman's approach, conceptualised as ‘strangers at out door/ante portas', requires a relationship that requires us to look at immigrants from inside the door. This study focuses on how Afghans, who are collectively expected to be hated as the new ‘dangerous' strangers, appear in Turkiye. The images provided by Google searches become a sufficient ‘peephole' through which to collectively see and imagine Afghans. This is because the ‘peephole' metaphor encompasses a symbolic context in which the fear of the ‘strangers at out door (ante portas)', the desire to see/observe them, and the parallax effect can be symbolically represented at a common root. In the study, by typing “Afghans” and “Afghan Migrants” in Turkish into the Google search bar, the visual (photographic) search results are used to establish relationships with alienation and otherness in the visual representation of Afghan identity.
TopIntroduction
As one of the pioneering cultures of contemporary urban civilisations, Rome, which bequeathed symbolic borders and gates to the world today, actually transformed a fear of the East into a socio-genetic predisposition as a comprehensive civilisational bias. The social upheaval caused by the fear of the invading strangers, which is constantly reproduced in the proverb “Hannibal Ante Portas”, which means “Hannibal is at the gates” and is still in use today, has always imbued perceptions and attitudes towards strangers within the framework of a border experience. In fact, Titus Livius’ (Livy) work “Ab Urbe Conditas”, meaning “from the foundation of the city”, which is an important work on urbanisation, a cultural legacy of Rome, and on how to establish relations with those beyond the city walls, contains the following statement to this day: “There is war at the gates (ante portas), if it is not driven out from there, it will already be within the walls, and many citizens will either flee or suffer”. This fear is relevant in today’s world and serves as a key collective sentiment for the alienation, othering and racist exclusion faced by many immigrants”. This study aims to integrate the border effect of the expression ‘ante portas/at the gates’ into migration studies by combining the effects of ‘looking across the border’ and ‘looking at the outside from the inside’.
The main reason why we keep watch on the other side of the border and want to use our gates not as areas of passage but as areas of exclusion is that migration, one of the mass movements we define as invasion, has appeared at our doorstep. Migration occurs when the conditions of the space/environment in which the individual lives threaten and challenge their vital existence (Akokpari, 1998, p. 219). Considering that the organic relationship that individuals establish with the conditions of existence is shaped by spatial attachment, the problem of belonging and identity created by leaving one’s place becomes more understandable. This is because the environment in which individuals live has a deterministic effect on the identity developed and the relationships related to this identity. Each individual gains their perception of their own self-existence as a result of the relationship they establish with the space they are in. The homelessness caused by migration leads to the destruction of spatial attachment and the loss of the individual’s sense of belonging.
Forced migration, on the other hand, occurs when an individual leaves their place of residence due to a real or perceived threat to their life (Deng, 1999, p. 484). What is noteworthy in this definition is that the primary reason for migration is the threat to living conditions, even if the individual perceives it rather than it being real. Therefore, individuals or groups may engage in forced migration based on a perception of threat, even if there’s no actual danger to life. Social conditions such as wars, terrorism, state policies, natural disasters, etc., can all turn into threats to life. In such cases, the individual seeks a new place to secure their life. However, upon moving towards this new place, they become strangers, unwelcome wherever they go. Indeed, strangers are generally unwelcome everywhere. This initially alienating and seemingly anachronistic attitude has strong historical and political justifications.
The concept of the stranger has historically elicited distrust due to its inherent unknowability and mystery. When society lacks controlling knowledge about the ‘other’, the ‘other’ is perceived as dangerous. This social threat associated with the concept of the stranger is closely tied to the origins of the word. In Ancient Greece, anything outside of the culture was labeled as ‘barbarian’, a term later replaced in Western civilization with ‘savage’. Both terms imply being outside of human culture, and thus, they are excluded from social life because they do not conform to societal norms (Levi-Strauss, 2010, p. 26). This demeaning perspective towards those outside of society also influences the perception of refugees and asylum seekers, as they are seen as wild and belonging to the wilderness, not to society. Their inclusion in society is often met with fear of moral panic and rejection due to the concern that it will ‘civilize’ society.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Stranger: It is any person, group or nation that the natives will always want to keep out of the door because of their inherent unknowability and threat.
Migration to Turkiye: It is a specific migration route where Afghans cross Iranian territory on foot and enter Turkiye unregistered through the eastern borders.
Ante Portas: It is a phrase meaning “at out door” and historically used to describe the social position of strangers.
Google: It is a search engine and information source where people obtain information about everywhere, everything and everyone by asking various questions.
Exclusion: In the specific case of this research, it is the general and prejudiced attitude of the indigenous towards Afghan migrants.
Othering: It is the general framework of the exclusionary identification practice applied to the strangers in order to determine the social position of the strangers and to draw the boundaries of the perception of “us”.
Afghan Migrant: They are a group of migrants who entered Turkiye illegally with mass male migration due to the regime change in Afghanistan.
Identity: It is the sum of adjectives that express how people will be recognised in the social structure in which they live and try to hold on.
Stereotyping: It is the attitude of typification that will cover all those who have that identity through any variant of a collective identity.
Moral Panic: It is a state of mass fear based on the assumption that strangers beyond the gate will corrupt all moral values in the local culture and cause corruption.