Remaking Politics, Markets, and Citizens in Turkey

Rezensionen / Stimmen

A rare example of ethnographic research in which the reader will find everything in one place. * Journal of Economic Sociology * A must-read for students of modern Turkey focusing on political economy, economic anthropology, and science and technology studies. * New Perspectives on Turkey * From the more than two decades of debates, theories, and examples of what it is to produce ethnographic studies of neoliberal political economies, Kayaalp's study of the shifting assemblages around the making of tobacco markets in contemporary Turkey, is the one I would (and will) select to teach the state of anthropology's art in this major collective contemporary research project of the discipline. With elegance, she encompasses the global phenomenon as a closely observed dynamic form, an affair of experts with profound effects on the commitments of states, while keeping 'local knowledge' a little offside, but still in a place of honor. -- George E. Marcus, University of California-Irvine, USA Ebru Kayaalp's book is a wonderful blend of classic and contemporary ethnography that charts the complicated recent history of Turkey's economy through the lens of a single commodity: tobacco. By doing what anthropologists do best, she paints a portrait of Turkey and its economy today. She shows us how markets are made and unmade, and how they transform politics and remake citizenship in the process. Markets, like smoke, sometimes seem impossible to grasp, but with a book like this, a reader can explore in detail the complex range of institutions, laws, regulations, plants, criminals, bureaucrats, doctors and cigarettes making up the markets in smoke. It is a significant achievement and an engaging read. * Christopher Kelty, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, UCLA, USA *