B Rottmann
Biographic Data
| ID | 43382 |
|---|---|
| NAME | B Rottmann |
| GIVEN NAMES | B |
| FAMILY NAME | Rottmann |
| SIGNATURE | ROTTMANN B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Özyeğin University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0680-6999 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 91 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Trapped, Aspiring, Reluctant, or Precarious? Exploring Agency in Migrant Trajectories in Turkey and Morocco
Everything tastes different”: Cultural food security for syrian refugees in türkiye
In this article, we investigate cultural food security for Syrian refugees in Türkiye, highlighting how food security extends beyond basic nutritional needs to encompass cultural identity and emotional well-being. Drawing on 27 in-depth interviews with Syrian refugee women in Gaziantep, Türkiye, we examine the four pillars of food security – availability, access, utilization, and stability – in light of refugees’ experiences with their traditiona…
Exploring the cultural and moral worlds of anti-Syrian violence: An ethnography of everyday hostility in an Istanbul neighbourhood
Human agency
The scholarship on climate mobilities has evolved to pay attention to human agency and cultural adaptation. In this viewpoint, we argue that the international organizations (IOs) with formal mandates related to migration governance, refugee protection, and climate adaptation are still falling short in this aspect. Currently, these actors tend to neglect agency and adaptation because they view ‘climate mobility’ as a macrotrend and analyze it with…
Forced Migration and the Politics of Belonging: Integration Policy, National Debates and Migrant Strategies
This research note examines the politics of refugee belonging in Germany, Sweden, Austria, United Kingdom, Italy, Greece, and Turkey. Specifically, it explores how migrant belonging is impacted by integration policies and national political debates on immigration in these countries. Prior research suggests that refugees have little knowledge of policy, but that national political or media debates strongly impact a feeling of inclusion. Our resear…
Domesticity and dwelling in displacement: Home-making practices of Syrian women in Istanbul houses
Combining architectural and cultural anthropological approaches, this study explores the domestic spaces of Syrian women in Istanbul in order to understand how they perform ‘home-making’ in a new social and architectural setting. Scholars who study migration and gender are increasingly interested in studying ‘home,’ but few studies examine migrant women’s spatial agency and how space and time are materialized by looking at past and present homes.…
Culinary sustainability as a resilience practice for Syrian refugees amidst urban precarity in Istanbul
In a context of urban precarity and food insecurity, our research examines how Syrian women in Istanbul (Turkey) (re-)create "Syrian cultural foods" as part of fulfilling gendered expectations for homemaking. Fleeing civil war since 2011, Syrians find safety in Turkey, but they struggle with a financially and politically insecure temporary protection status making the daily act of cooking a significant challenge. In contrast to research focused o…
Syrian Refugees in Turkey: Between Reception and Integration
This open access book Syrian Refugees in Turkey provides an analysis of Turkey’s response to Syrian mass migration crisis from 2011 to 2020. Free read!
Akle Tayyibe [Tasty Dish]-Cooking Up Belonging in the Syrian Refugee Foodscape in Turkey
This article is a study of Syrian women’s food practices in Turkey. Researchers have shown that food matters for belonging, but we need more research examining how migrants use food in memory-work; how they cook to create a “happy home”; and how shared meals are tied to inclusion in communities. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork, this research examines five food practices of belonging that can inform migration researchers about how refugees rel…
Cultivating membership abroad: Analyzing German pre-integration courses for Turkish marriage migrants
Addressing research on migration governance, this article examines German pre-integration courses offered to Turkish marriage migrants in Istanbul. The courses were implemented in response to growing concern about the perceived poor integration of Muslim migrants and a high number of forced marriages. I argue that these courses are a micro form of biopolitical governance. Specifically, they are an attempt to generate internalized ways of being an…
(Lived) Spaces of Belonging, Culture, and Gender: Spatial Practices of Home for Syrian Women in Istanbul
Combining architectural and cultural anthropological approaches, this study explores the domestic lived spaces of Syrian women in Istanbul to understand how they create belonging in a new social and architectural setting and perform gender roles. We analyze data gathered from several types of dwellings according to the concept of spatial practice of Henri Lefebvre to explore how women’s daily life praxis fosters feelings of contentment and safety…
Embracing Vulnerability in Writing Migrant Lives
In this paper, an anthropologist and a life writer examine the implications of an ethical and political practice of vulnerability with regards to writing migrant lives. Drawing on research with migrants in Turkey and Australia, we argue that it is useful to use vulnerable methodologies, vulnerable relationships and vulnerable writing
We always open our doors for visitors’ — Hospitality as homemaking strategy for refugee women in Istanbul
This article examines social relations for Syrian women in Istanbul by focusing on micro-level lived relationships of hospitality. Through an ethnographic, qualitative approach to key sites of encounter, the article explores how migrants navigate a public milieu in which hospitality has partially been taken away from the local community’s moral oversight in a context of a national political discourse on hospitality. We also analyze ‘hosting’ and …
Logistification and Hyper-Precarity at the Intersection of Migration and Pandemic Governance: Refugees in the Turkish Labour Market
This article analyses the governance of migration and the Covid-19 pandemic on precarious Syrian refugees in Istanbul. Drawing from a review of state policies and interviews with refugees before and after the pandemic, we argue that the intersecting governance of migration and the pandemic compounded inequalities. While refugees initially lost their employment without notice in lockdown periods, their partial lifting revealed unequal expectations…
Language learning through an intersectional lens: Gender, migrant status, and gain in symbolic capital for Syrian refugee women in Turkey
This paper sheds light on Syrian refugee women’s negotiation strategies in language learning classrooms and in their broader social contexts from an intersectional perspective. Drawing on in-depth interviews and focus groups complemented by participatory observation in language classes, we use a post-structuralist approach to examine gendered language socialization. Our research combines an intersectional framework and a Bourdieusian perspective …
Migration Regime and 'Language Part of Work: Experiences of Syrian Refugees as Surplus Population in the Turkish Labor Market
The literature on migration, language and employment is dominated by the human capital approach and promotes multilingualism as a universal good. This paper examines the relationship between language and work for migrants illustrating how they are ascribed value as capital according to their position and the 'language part of work.' First, we trace a genealogy of the migration regime in relation to the labor and linguistic market of migrants in T…
Textures of Hospitality in Homes of Refugee Women in Istanbul: Tactile and Affective Dimensions of Sociality and Agency
Beyond Legal Status: Exploring Dimensions of Belonging among Forced Migrants in Istanbul and Vienna
Migrants with precarious legal statuses experience significant structural exclusion from their host nations but may still feel partial belonging. This article explores two dimensions potentially relevant for this group’s sense of belonging: city-level opportunity structures and public political discourses. Specifically, we examine perceptions of belonging among forced migrants with similarly precarious legal statuses located in Istanbul and Vienn…
We can’t integrate in Europe. We will pay a high price if we go there’: Culture, Time and Migration Aspirations for Syrian Refugees in Istanbul
In popular media, it is often assumed that Syrian refugees wish to reach Europe by any means necessary but, during field research in 2018, we found that many Syrians hoped to remain in Istanbul, despite their tenuous legal and social situation. The article examines how migrants established cultural intimacy and strong community social networks over time, and became increasingly sceptical about the life they imagined they would have in Europe. Add…
Citizenship ethics: German-Turkish return migrants, belonging, and justice
This article examines citizenship for German-Turkish return migrants attending monthly meetings of the Rückkehrer Stammtisch (Returner's Meetings) in Istanbul. Meeting attendees call themselves "world citizens" and remain deeply concerned about disrespect and inequality they experience as ethnic minorities in Germany and as citizens in Turkey. Drawing on the anthropology of ethics, this research demonstrates the importance of ethical relationship…
Cultivating and Contesting Order: European Turks' and Negotiations of Neighbourliness at 'Home
This article examines how Turks returning from Germany to Turkey self-fashion as 'orderly neighbours'. By maintaining aesthetically pleasing homes and gardens, keeping public spaces clean, and obeying rules and laws in public, return migrants believe they act as modern 'European-Turks' and exemplify good neighbourliness. Many neighbours, however, feel these actions are unnecessary or even disruptive to Turkish communities. In conversation with th…
Citizenship and Intersectionality: German Feminist Debates about Headscarf and Antidiscrimination Laws
As European nations grapple with when and how to extend inclusive citizenship to their Muslim minorities, the parameters of Muslim women's citizenship have jumped to the forefront of feminist concern. Much of the debate internationally has revolved around veiling, but we argue that this is only one element of how ethnic, religious, and other differences among women are addressed. In this paper, we choose two cases which highlight political choice…
We can’t integrate in Europe. We will pay a high price if we go there’: Culture, Time and Migration Aspirations for Syrian Refugees in Istanbul
In popular media, it is often assumed that Syrian refugees wish to reach Europe by any means necessary but, during field research in 2018, we found that many Syrians hoped to remain in Istanbul, despite their tenuous legal and social situation. The article examines how migrants established cultural intimacy and strong community social networks over time, and became increasingly sceptical about the life they imagined they would have in Europe. Add…
Citizenship and Intersectionality: German Feminist Debates about Headscarf and Antidiscrimination Laws
As European nations grapple with when and how to extend inclusive citizenship to their Muslim minorities, the parameters of Muslim women's citizenship have jumped to the forefront of feminist concern. Much of the debate internationally has revolved around veiling, but we argue that this is only one element of how ethnic, religious, and other differences among women are addressed. In this paper, we choose two cases which highlight political choice…
We always open our doors for visitors’ — Hospitality as homemaking strategy for refugee women in Istanbul
This article examines social relations for Syrian women in Istanbul by focusing on micro-level lived relationships of hospitality. Through an ethnographic, qualitative approach to key sites of encounter, the article explores how migrants navigate a public milieu in which hospitality has partially been taken away from the local community’s moral oversight in a context of a national political discourse on hospitality. We also analyze ‘hosting’ and …
Logistification and Hyper-Precarity at the Intersection of Migration and Pandemic Governance: Refugees in the Turkish Labour Market
This article analyses the governance of migration and the Covid-19 pandemic on precarious Syrian refugees in Istanbul. Drawing from a review of state policies and interviews with refugees before and after the pandemic, we argue that the intersecting governance of migration and the pandemic compounded inequalities. While refugees initially lost their employment without notice in lockdown periods, their partial lifting revealed unequal expectations…
Migration Regime and 'Language Part of Work: Experiences of Syrian Refugees as Surplus Population in the Turkish Labor Market
The literature on migration, language and employment is dominated by the human capital approach and promotes multilingualism as a universal good. This paper examines the relationship between language and work for migrants illustrating how they are ascribed value as capital according to their position and the 'language part of work.' First, we trace a genealogy of the migration regime in relation to the labor and linguistic market of migrants in T…
Language learning through an intersectional lens: Gender, migrant status, and gain in symbolic capital for Syrian refugee women in Turkey
This paper sheds light on Syrian refugee women’s negotiation strategies in language learning classrooms and in their broader social contexts from an intersectional perspective. Drawing on in-depth interviews and focus groups complemented by participatory observation in language classes, we use a post-structuralist approach to examine gendered language socialization. Our research combines an intersectional framework and a Bourdieusian perspective …
Domesticity and dwelling in displacement: Home-making practices of Syrian women in Istanbul houses
Combining architectural and cultural anthropological approaches, this study explores the domestic spaces of Syrian women in Istanbul in order to understand how they perform ‘home-making’ in a new social and architectural setting. Scholars who study migration and gender are increasingly interested in studying ‘home,’ but few studies examine migrant women’s spatial agency and how space and time are materialized by looking at past and present homes.…
(Lived) Spaces of Belonging, Culture, and Gender: Spatial Practices of Home for Syrian Women in Istanbul
Combining architectural and cultural anthropological approaches, this study explores the domestic lived spaces of Syrian women in Istanbul to understand how they create belonging in a new social and architectural setting and perform gender roles. We analyze data gathered from several types of dwellings according to the concept of spatial practice of Henri Lefebvre to explore how women’s daily life praxis fosters feelings of contentment and safety…
Beyond Legal Status: Exploring Dimensions of Belonging among Forced Migrants in Istanbul and Vienna
Migrants with precarious legal statuses experience significant structural exclusion from their host nations but may still feel partial belonging. This article explores two dimensions potentially relevant for this group’s sense of belonging: city-level opportunity structures and public political discourses. Specifically, we examine perceptions of belonging among forced migrants with similarly precarious legal statuses located in Istanbul and Vienn…
Forced Migration and the Politics of Belonging: Integration Policy, National Debates and Migrant Strategies
This research note examines the politics of refugee belonging in Germany, Sweden, Austria, United Kingdom, Italy, Greece, and Turkey. Specifically, it explores how migrant belonging is impacted by integration policies and national political debates on immigration in these countries. Prior research suggests that refugees have little knowledge of policy, but that national political or media debates strongly impact a feeling of inclusion. Our resear…
Culinary sustainability as a resilience practice for Syrian refugees amidst urban precarity in Istanbul
In a context of urban precarity and food insecurity, our research examines how Syrian women in Istanbul (Turkey) (re-)create "Syrian cultural foods" as part of fulfilling gendered expectations for homemaking. Fleeing civil war since 2011, Syrians find safety in Turkey, but they struggle with a financially and politically insecure temporary protection status making the daily act of cooking a significant challenge. In contrast to research focused o…
Akle Tayyibe [Tasty Dish]-Cooking Up Belonging in the Syrian Refugee Foodscape in Turkey
This article is a study of Syrian women’s food practices in Turkey. Researchers have shown that food matters for belonging, but we need more research examining how migrants use food in memory-work; how they cook to create a “happy home”; and how shared meals are tied to inclusion in communities. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork, this research examines five food practices of belonging that can inform migration researchers about how refugees rel…
Embracing Vulnerability in Writing Migrant Lives
In this paper, an anthropologist and a life writer examine the implications of an ethical and political practice of vulnerability with regards to writing migrant lives. Drawing on research with migrants in Turkey and Australia, we argue that it is useful to use vulnerable methodologies, vulnerable relationships and vulnerable writing
Citizenship ethics: German-Turkish return migrants, belonging, and justice
This article examines citizenship for German-Turkish return migrants attending monthly meetings of the Rückkehrer Stammtisch (Returner's Meetings) in Istanbul. Meeting attendees call themselves "world citizens" and remain deeply concerned about disrespect and inequality they experience as ethnic minorities in Germany and as citizens in Turkey. Drawing on the anthropology of ethics, this research demonstrates the importance of ethical relationship…
Cultivating and Contesting Order: European Turks' and Negotiations of Neighbourliness at 'Home
This article examines how Turks returning from Germany to Turkey self-fashion as 'orderly neighbours'. By maintaining aesthetically pleasing homes and gardens, keeping public spaces clean, and obeying rules and laws in public, return migrants believe they act as modern 'European-Turks' and exemplify good neighbourliness. Many neighbours, however, feel these actions are unnecessary or even disruptive to Turkish communities. In conversation with th…
Citizenship and Intersectionality: German Feminist Debates about Headscarf and Antidiscrimination Laws
As European nations grapple with when and how to extend inclusive citizenship to their Muslim minorities, the parameters of Muslim women's citizenship have jumped to the forefront of feminist concern. Much of the debate internationally has revolved around veiling, but we argue that this is only one element of how ethnic, religious, and other differences among women are addressed. In this paper, we choose two cases which highlight political choice…
Cultivating and Contesting Order: European Turks' and Negotiations of Neighbourliness at 'Home
This article examines how Turks returning from Germany to Turkey self-fashion as 'orderly neighbours'. By maintaining aesthetically pleasing homes and gardens, keeping public spaces clean, and obeying rules and laws in public, return migrants believe they act as modern 'European-Turks' and exemplify good neighbourliness. Many neighbours, however, feel these actions are unnecessary or even disruptive to Turkish communities. In conversation with th…
Citizenship ethics: German-Turkish return migrants, belonging, and justice
This article examines citizenship for German-Turkish return migrants attending monthly meetings of the Rückkehrer Stammtisch (Returner's Meetings) in Istanbul. Meeting attendees call themselves "world citizens" and remain deeply concerned about disrespect and inequality they experience as ethnic minorities in Germany and as citizens in Turkey. Drawing on the anthropology of ethics, this research demonstrates the importance of ethical relationship…
Textures of Hospitality in Homes of Refugee Women in Istanbul: Tactile and Affective Dimensions of Sociality and Agency
Beyond Legal Status: Exploring Dimensions of Belonging among Forced Migrants in Istanbul and Vienna
Migrants with precarious legal statuses experience significant structural exclusion from their host nations but may still feel partial belonging. This article explores two dimensions potentially relevant for this group’s sense of belonging: city-level opportunity structures and public political discourses. Specifically, we examine perceptions of belonging among forced migrants with similarly precarious legal statuses located in Istanbul and Vienn…
We can’t integrate in Europe. We will pay a high price if we go there’: Culture, Time and Migration Aspirations for Syrian Refugees in Istanbul
In popular media, it is often assumed that Syrian refugees wish to reach Europe by any means necessary but, during field research in 2018, we found that many Syrians hoped to remain in Istanbul, despite their tenuous legal and social situation. The article examines how migrants established cultural intimacy and strong community social networks over time, and became increasingly sceptical about the life they imagined they would have in Europe. Add…
We always open our doors for visitors’ — Hospitality as homemaking strategy for refugee women in Istanbul
This article examines social relations for Syrian women in Istanbul by focusing on micro-level lived relationships of hospitality. Through an ethnographic, qualitative approach to key sites of encounter, the article explores how migrants navigate a public milieu in which hospitality has partially been taken away from the local community’s moral oversight in a context of a national political discourse on hospitality. We also analyze ‘hosting’ and …
Logistification and Hyper-Precarity at the Intersection of Migration and Pandemic Governance: Refugees in the Turkish Labour Market
This article analyses the governance of migration and the Covid-19 pandemic on precarious Syrian refugees in Istanbul. Drawing from a review of state policies and interviews with refugees before and after the pandemic, we argue that the intersecting governance of migration and the pandemic compounded inequalities. While refugees initially lost their employment without notice in lockdown periods, their partial lifting revealed unequal expectations…
Language learning through an intersectional lens: Gender, migrant status, and gain in symbolic capital for Syrian refugee women in Turkey
This paper sheds light on Syrian refugee women’s negotiation strategies in language learning classrooms and in their broader social contexts from an intersectional perspective. Drawing on in-depth interviews and focus groups complemented by participatory observation in language classes, we use a post-structuralist approach to examine gendered language socialization. Our research combines an intersectional framework and a Bourdieusian perspective …
Migration Regime and 'Language Part of Work: Experiences of Syrian Refugees as Surplus Population in the Turkish Labor Market
The literature on migration, language and employment is dominated by the human capital approach and promotes multilingualism as a universal good. This paper examines the relationship between language and work for migrants illustrating how they are ascribed value as capital according to their position and the 'language part of work.' First, we trace a genealogy of the migration regime in relation to the labor and linguistic market of migrants in T…
Cultivating membership abroad: Analyzing German pre-integration courses for Turkish marriage migrants
Addressing research on migration governance, this article examines German pre-integration courses offered to Turkish marriage migrants in Istanbul. The courses were implemented in response to growing concern about the perceived poor integration of Muslim migrants and a high number of forced marriages. I argue that these courses are a micro form of biopolitical governance. Specifically, they are an attempt to generate internalized ways of being an…
(Lived) Spaces of Belonging, Culture, and Gender: Spatial Practices of Home for Syrian Women in Istanbul
Combining architectural and cultural anthropological approaches, this study explores the domestic lived spaces of Syrian women in Istanbul to understand how they create belonging in a new social and architectural setting and perform gender roles. We analyze data gathered from several types of dwellings according to the concept of spatial practice of Henri Lefebvre to explore how women’s daily life praxis fosters feelings of contentment and safety…
Embracing Vulnerability in Writing Migrant Lives
In this paper, an anthropologist and a life writer examine the implications of an ethical and political practice of vulnerability with regards to writing migrant lives. Drawing on research with migrants in Turkey and Australia, we argue that it is useful to use vulnerable methodologies, vulnerable relationships and vulnerable writing
Syrian Refugees in Turkey: Between Reception and Integration
This open access book Syrian Refugees in Turkey provides an analysis of Turkey’s response to Syrian mass migration crisis from 2011 to 2020. Free read!
Akle Tayyibe [Tasty Dish]-Cooking Up Belonging in the Syrian Refugee Foodscape in Turkey
This article is a study of Syrian women’s food practices in Turkey. Researchers have shown that food matters for belonging, but we need more research examining how migrants use food in memory-work; how they cook to create a “happy home”; and how shared meals are tied to inclusion in communities. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork, this research examines five food practices of belonging that can inform migration researchers about how refugees rel…
Culinary sustainability as a resilience practice for Syrian refugees amidst urban precarity in Istanbul
In a context of urban precarity and food insecurity, our research examines how Syrian women in Istanbul (Turkey) (re-)create "Syrian cultural foods" as part of fulfilling gendered expectations for homemaking. Fleeing civil war since 2011, Syrians find safety in Turkey, but they struggle with a financially and politically insecure temporary protection status making the daily act of cooking a significant challenge. In contrast to research focused o…
Human agency
The scholarship on climate mobilities has evolved to pay attention to human agency and cultural adaptation. In this viewpoint, we argue that the international organizations (IOs) with formal mandates related to migration governance, refugee protection, and climate adaptation are still falling short in this aspect. Currently, these actors tend to neglect agency and adaptation because they view ‘climate mobility’ as a macrotrend and analyze it with…
Forced Migration and the Politics of Belonging: Integration Policy, National Debates and Migrant Strategies
This research note examines the politics of refugee belonging in Germany, Sweden, Austria, United Kingdom, Italy, Greece, and Turkey. Specifically, it explores how migrant belonging is impacted by integration policies and national political debates on immigration in these countries. Prior research suggests that refugees have little knowledge of policy, but that national political or media debates strongly impact a feeling of inclusion. Our resear…
Domesticity and dwelling in displacement: Home-making practices of Syrian women in Istanbul houses
Combining architectural and cultural anthropological approaches, this study explores the domestic spaces of Syrian women in Istanbul in order to understand how they perform ‘home-making’ in a new social and architectural setting. Scholars who study migration and gender are increasingly interested in studying ‘home,’ but few studies examine migrant women’s spatial agency and how space and time are materialized by looking at past and present homes.…
Trapped, Aspiring, Reluctant, or Precarious? Exploring Agency in Migrant Trajectories in Turkey and Morocco
Everything tastes different”: Cultural food security for syrian refugees in türkiye
In this article, we investigate cultural food security for Syrian refugees in Türkiye, highlighting how food security extends beyond basic nutritional needs to encompass cultural identity and emotional well-being. Drawing on 27 in-depth interviews with Syrian refugee women in Gaziantep, Türkiye, we examine the four pillars of food security – availability, access, utilization, and stability – in light of refugees’ experiences with their traditiona…
Exploring the cultural and moral worlds of anti-Syrian violence: An ethnography of everyday hostility in an Istanbul neighbourhood
Sociology (15 works) · Political science (14 works) · Gender Studies (11 works) · Gender Studies (11 works) · Refugee (11 works) · Turkey's Politics and Society (11 works) · Migration, Refugees, and Integration (10 works) · Law (8 works) · Geography (7 works) · Law (7 works)