A Walk on Istiklal Street : Dissident Sexual Geographies, Politics and Citizenship in Istanbul

Abstract: Building upon ethnographic material and literature dating from the early 1970s until the 2010s, this thesis is about the production and transformation of dissident sexual geographies through the interplay of sexual politics and citizenship in Beyoğlu and Aksaray, two districts of Istanbul, Turkey. In particular, the interdisciplinary inquiry is composed in the form of a walk on Istiklal Street in Beyoğlu district, historically a central location for cruising activities, finding sexual communities and organising political events among LGBT circles. Throughout, the study focuses on the generational use of three interconnected areas: places, such as gay and transgender bars and clubs (1970s–2010s); politics, such as gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) sexual identity politics (1980s–2010s), and virtualities, such as cyberspaces produced through internet and webcam technologies (1990s–2010s).As such, this study contributes to the literature in an under-researched area: the academic study of the production and transformation of dissident sexual geographies between the early 1970s and the early 2010s in Istanbul. Furthermore, it advances current debates on contemporary LGBT identity politics in relation to place-making processes and their role in subverting the assumptions of heteronormativity in the Turkish context. Lastly, the empirical material on three interwoven areas (places, politics and virtualities) contributes to theoretical debates on the construction of intimacy and privacy in the Turkish context.