Spatial Politics of Encounter: Erenler Coffeehouse and the Making of an Inclusive Public Sphere in 1980s Istanbul
Geography Compass, cilt.20, sa.3, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Derleme
- Cilt numarası: 20 Sayı: 3
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1111/gec3.70072
- Dergi Adı: Geography Compass
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Geobase, Index Islamicus, MLA - Modern Language Association Database, MLA International Bibliography, Academic Search Ultimate (EBSCO)
- Anahtar Kelimeler: affective dynamics, ecology of encounters, literary coffeehouses, post-Habermasian publics, public sphere, spatiality
- Kırklareli Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
This study examines how an inclusive public sphere was constructed at Erenler, a literary coffeehouse in 1980s Istanbul, amid Turkey's post-coup authoritarian climate and deepening ideological fragmentation. In the aftermath of the military coup, a period marked by traumatic depoliticization and the suppression of public sphere, Erenler emerged as a vital contact zone for literati from disparate ideological backgrounds. Adopting a qualitative case study methodology, the study synthesizes 96 semi-structured interviews with the surviving members of the Erenler literati community and a content analysis of eleven literary journals associated with the community, published between 1985 and 1993. Drawing on the notion of ecology of encounters, this study employs a multi-scalar analytical framework across micro, meso, and macro levels. At the micro-scale, affective encounters grounded in shared trauma established interpersonal trust among ideologically opposed literati. At the meso-scale, these bodily proximities transformed into discursive production through collaborative journal publishing that transcended right-left divisions. At the macro-scale, Erenler operated as a lived space of resistance against both the state's suppression of speech and neoliberalism's commodification of public sphere. Interrogating the limitations of both Habermasian universalism and post-Habermasian conflict-oriented models, this study demonstrates how spatial practices of mutual recognition enabled dialog across Turkey's historical cleavages at the time. Erenler thus offers a critical counter-narrative for political geographies of the public sphere, illustrating how embodied co-presence and cultural production can generate inclusive publicness even within repressive political structures.