Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

The research presents a practice-based, participatory methodology that challenges nationalist ethnography, opening dialogues through fragments of the multispecies ecology of nomadic pastoralism. It explores how oppressed fragments become active agents in regenerating Anatolian pastoralist knowledge.

Paper long abstract

After being marginalised for centuries by colonial and nationalist narratives, nomadic pastoralist practices have emerged as a vital focus of interdisciplinary ecological research focusing on regenerative and dynamic ecologies. In the Anatolian context, sedentarisation of nomadic pastoralists played a key role in shaping society and the landscape during the modernisation process from the late Ottoman period to the Republic of Turkey. Meanwhile, Turkey’s nationalist ethnography appropriated the nomadic pastoralist culture into the foundational mythology of Turks in Anatolia. Instrumentalising it as a national identity silenced the ecological knowledge that pastoralists developed over centuries in dialogue with diverse ethnic groups and immobilised dynamic ecological practices.

Today, the few remaining nomadic pastoralists face significant challenges in maintaining seasonal migration in Anatolia, while their culture is displayed in state museums. Drawing on decolonial feminist scholarship and archival practices, this research brings together fragments of nomadic pastoralist practices from southern Anatolia, including materials, tools and skills related to their crafts, fiction and non-fiction narratives in various media. Through installation and event formats, the project opens a space for sensory experience, collective learning and dialogue on the commons of pastoralist practices across geographies. It encourages critical reading of nationalist narratives and contributes to the regeneration of suppressed ecological knowledge.

Initiating dialogues guided by fragments intertwining the multispecies ecology of nomadic pastoralism, the research presents a practice-based, participatory methodology that challenges nationalist ethnography. It explores how fragments of the oppressed can become active agents in the regeneration of Anatolian nomadic pastoralism's cultural and ecological heritage.