Join us for the first book launch of States of Dispossession: Violence and Precarious Coexistence in Southeast Turkey by Zerrin Özlem Biner. 

In States of Dispossession, Biner traces the violence of the protracted conflict in the Kurdish region through the lens of dispossession. By definition, dispossession implies the act of depriving someone of land, property, and other belongings as well as the result of such deprivation. Within the fields of Ottoman and contemporary Turkish studies, social scientists to date have examined the dispossession of rights and property as a technique for governing territory and those citizens living at its margins. States of Dispossession instead highlights everyday experiences in an attempt to understand the persistent and intangible effects of dispossession. Biner examines the practices and discourses that emerge from local memories of unspoken, irresolvable histories and the ways people of differing religious and ethnic backgrounds live with the remains of violence that is still unfolding. She explores the implicit knowledge held by ordinary people about the landscape and the built environment and the continuous struggle to reclaim rights over dispossessed bodies and places.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEContemporaryTurkishStudies 

The Chair for Contemporary Turkish Studies focuses on culture, religion, politics, and memory in Turkey and among Turkey's diasporic populations. Its mission is to promote a deeper understanding of Turkey with emphasis on its diversity and a focus on its connections to the world. As the only Chair of its kind located at a European Institute, its specific focus is Turkey's dynamic relationship with Europe. The Chair provides academic leadership in the study of Turkey through interdisciplinary and critical research, teaching and related public activities. It organizes seminars and conferences, and supports doctoral studies on contemporary Turkey.