European Journal of Turkish Studies Social Sciences on Contemporary Turkey: "Modernity lies below": rurality and urbanity of the inhabitants of an Ankara gecekondu

Abstract : On the basis of the ruralist image associated with the gecekondu in the sociological literature, this article argues that the concept of " urban village” applied to this urban morphology characterising Turkish cities is not relevant. The ethnological analysis of a gecekondu district located in Ankara shows initially how and in how far former villagers appropriate the urban space of Ankara physically, symbolically and “cognitively”. However, this evidence of urbanity does not proof their "non – rurality " and the irrelevance of the urban village’s concept: it is possible to live like a “townsman” in an “urban village”. The paper then analyses why and how the village of origin is not a relevant social frame of reference any more for the inhabitants of this district. However, this village continues to evoke. Representations of rurality and urbanity are articulated to give birth to new and original cultural practices which explain the dialogue between urban and rural space in Turkey.