Invitation – Lecture Series 2016/17 at the Orient-Insitut Istanbul
Designing Nature, Upgrading Human Life?
Nearly 3 million Syrians have escaped to Turkey since 2010 following the political conflicts and civil war in that country. About the ¾ of these Syrians are women and children, and most of them live in the major cities such as Istanbul and Izmir in dire living and health conditions. They are also often subjected to discrimination and hostile attitudes by the Turkish citizens, and their hopes to go back to Syria or to live in the Western countries diminish considerably through time. Based on the interviews with Syrian women, Turkish doctors and nurses and media survey, my talk examine the medical and popular discourses on Syrian women’s health and body, and the Syrian women’s reactions towards these discourses. They are often seen as the uninvited guests who harm the medical practice and other people’s health in Turkey, though I contend that their health problems and the problems they experience in the health realm indicate the larger problems in the Turkish health care system, political and social dynamics.