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Leila M. Harris – Article Abstracts

Harris. L. (forthcoming, 2009) Water Rich, Resource Poor: Intersections of Gender, Poverty, and Vulnerability in Newly Irrigated Areas of Southeastern Turkey World Development

Abstract: The provision of water for drinking and irrigation is often assumed to alleviate poverty, though results are likely to be mixed for different individuals. This paper examines the intersections of gender poverty, livelihoods, landlessness, and related considerations in the context of large-scale water development in Turkey’s Southeastern Anatolia region, particularly exploring what such an analysis allows for an understanding of variable and differentiated effects of ongoing changes. Findings suggest that certain populations experience enhanced vulnerabilities, and considerable losses, in addition to any gains and benefits of ongoing changes (particularly landless, poor, some women, and those who previously engaged in animal husbandry). This discussion enriches a growing gender and water literature, arguing for an intersectional analysis that understands gender as necessarily conditioned by poverty, livelihoods, and other factors. Further, I argue for the need to further enrich analyses of differentiated benefits and vulnerabilities of water-related changes through consideration of geographic, spatial, and place-specific dimensions.

Harris, L. and H. Hazen (forthcoming, 2008) "Rethinking Maps from a More-than-Human Perspective: Nature-Society, Mapping, and Conservation Territories." in C. Perkins, M. Dodge, and R. Kitchin (eds). Rethinking Maps Routledge.

Abstract: This chapter interrogates the power dynamics of mapping practice and products from a more-than-human perspective. Specifically, we consider what is at stake in defining and mapping protected areas for conservation. We combine literatures related to critical cartographies, political ecology, and nature-society debates to shed light on the ways that conservation mapping practices endorse certain notions of species, space, and territory—with profound implications for the ways that nature conservation is perceived and operationalized. We also engage recent insights related to practices and engagements with ‘map spaces’ (rather than reading maps as fixed representations of space) to consider conservation mapping practices as dynamic, performative interactions among people, landscapes, ecosystems, and species. We argue that a focus on map spaces and practices provides useful ways forward for recent debates related to nature-society and more-than-human geographies. In turn, considering the more-than-human reveals further fruitful lines of enquiry related to critical cartographies and power effects of mapping.

Harris, L. (forthcoming) Modernizing the Nation: Postcolonialism, (Post)Development, and Ambivalent Spaces of Difference in Southeastern Turkey. Geoforum.

Abstract: This paper advances recent conversations related to the need to better engage postcolonial scholarship in development geography. To do so, I bring together analytics offered by postdevelopmental, feminist geographic, and postcolonial scholarship to analyze contemporary development efforts in Southeastern Turkey. To provide necessary background for the case study context, the paper considers three key moments foundational for Turkish modernist development aspirations: the foundations of the Republic through Kemalism, the emergence of Kurdish separatism and PKK resistance, and Turkish efforts to gain entry to the EU. Reading these moments, and their culmination in contemporary development efforts focused on the southeastern Anatolia region, through postdevelopmental and feminist geographic literatures invites a reading that highlights sociospatial difference as underwriting modernist development interventions in the Southeastern Anatolia region. Drawing on postcolonial scholarship, particularly Bhabha’s notion of ambivalence, further enables a reading of socio-spatial difference as also undermining Turkish modernist development, signaling precisely the points where the project comes undone. The example thus lends endorsement to the need for enriched engagement between postcolonial theory, feminist and development discussions in geography, suggesting that postcolonial concepts might enable clearer focus on the ambiguities, tensions, and contradictions inherent to development geographies.

Özet: Bu makale post-koloniyel (koloni sonrasi) teorinin kalkinma cografyasi alaniniyla olan etkilesimini gelistirmeyi amaçlayan yakin zamanlardaki çalismalara katkida bulunmaktadir. Bu amaçla bu çalismada post-kalkinmaci feminist cografyaci ve post-koloniyel arastirmalarin analiz yöntemleri bir araya getirilerek Türkiye nin Güneydogusundaki gelisme çabalari analiz edilmektedir. Bu vak’a (örnek durum) çalismasi Türkiye nin modernist kalkinma hadeflerini gerçeklestirme sürecinde önemli payi olan üç etmeni temel kabul etmektedir: 1) Türkiye Cumhuriyeti nin Kemalist temelleri 2) Kürt ayrilikçiliginin ortaya cikisi ve PKK direnisi ve 3) Türkiye’nin Avrupa Birligine girme yönündeki çabalari. Bu üç etmen ve bunlarin birlesiminin dorugu sayilabilecek Günedogu Anadolu bölgesini hedef alan günümüzdeki kalkinma çabalarinin post-kalkinmaci ve feminist cografya literatürü araciligiyla analizi sosyomekansal farkliliklari Güney Dogu bölgesindeki modernist kalkinmaci müdahalelerin teyidi olarak ortaya koyan bir okumayi gerektirir. Post-koloniyel çalismalarin analiz yöntemleri, özellikle de Bhabha’nin ambivalans (yaklasma-kaçinma) kavrami, kullanilarak yapilan okuma sosyomekansal farkliligi Türk modernist kalkinma projesine zarar veren, projenin çalismaz hale geldigi bir nokta olarak isaret etmektedir. Bu örnek durum çalismasi bu nedenle cografya alani içinde post-koloniyel teori feminist ve kalkinma tartismalari arasindaki bagin güçlendirilmesi gerektigini post-koloniyel kavramlarin kalkinmakta olan cografyalara has belirsizlikeri, gerilimleri ve çeliskileri daha iyi açiklayabilecegini öne sürerek teyid etmektedir.

Hazen, H. and L. Harris (2007.) "The Limits of Territorially Based Conservation: a Critical Assessment Based on Cartographic and Geographic Approaches." Environmental Conservation 35 (1): 1-11.

Abstract: This paper assesses territorially-focused conservation practice from geographic perspectives, focusing particularly on the influence of cartography. Contemporary mapping technologies and practices can favour territorial conservation approaches, perhaps at the expense of other possibilities, and may condition the flexibility and types of conservation feasible. For instance, might mapping practices lead to an emphasis on certain species, ecosystems or conservation concepts over others? How appropriate is the static idea of a mapped conservation space for fluctuating environmental conditions and changing threats? Understanding that many of the challenges outlined here are acknowledged by conservation practitioners, this paper summarizes ways in which these concerns are currently addressed in the conservation biology literature. Advances in geography and cartography might offer further solutions that could assist in confronting conservation challenges. These critiques and potential solutions identify gaps and opportunities that would benefit from increased interdisciplinary engagement across conservation, geographic and cartographic fields.

Harris, L.and H. Hazen (2006). "Power of Maps: (Counter)-mapping for Conservation" Acme International E-journal of Critical Geographies. 4(1):99-130.

Abstract: This paper considers what is at stake in defining and mapping protected areas for conservation. We link issues of power in cartography to themes from political ecology, social natures, and conservation biology literatures to extend our understanding of maps as reflective of, and productive of, power. Reviewing insights from these literatures to consider power asymmetries common to conservation practice, we highlight ways that mapping practices and products reinforce and contribute to such dynamics. Doing so enriches consideration of the power geometries of conservation cartographies by inviting fuller consideration of diverse species and landscapes, as well as enabling discussion of other representational and productive effects of conservation mappings. Once determined, how might conservation maps serve to naturalize certain spaces or boundaries as fixed, or contribute to certain socio-psychological understandings of conservation possibilities or outcomes? In the closing sections, we invoke the idea of'counter-mapping' to explore strategies that might redress these concerns. Possibilities range from efforts to adapt the form of protected areas to more critical approaches that question the appropriateness of territorial focus and mapping practices for conservation goals. In conclusion, we argue that theorizing power in human, other-than-human, and inter-species contexts is essential to understanding the power geometries of conservation mapping.

Haritalarin Gücü: Korumacilik için (Karsi) - Haritalama

Özet: Bu çalisma dogal kaynaklari koruma alanlarinin tanimlanmasi ve haritalanmasi sürecinde neyin gözetilmesi gerektigini ele almaktadir. Haritaciliktaki güç iliskilerini siyasal ekoloji (political ecology), toplumsal dogalar (social natures), ve koruma biyolojisi (conservation biology) literatürüne bagliyarak haritaciligi toplumsal güç iliskilerini yansitan ve yaratan bir anlayis olarak degerlendiriyoruz. Bu literatürdeki görüslerin isiginda koruma uygulamalarinda yaygin olan güç dengesizliklerini analiz ederek haritacilik ugulamalarinin ve ürünlerinin bu tür dengesiz dinamikleri pekistirdigini ve katkida bulundugunu vurguluyoruz. Bu bakis, çesitli türler ve yasama alanlarinin bütünsel degerlendirmesini saglayacak ve koruma haritaciliginin farkli etki ve akisleri hakkinda yeni tartismalar getirecektir. Böyle bir yaklasim da koruma haritaciligindaki güç geometrisini daha derinlemesine analiz etmemize yardimci olacaktir. Bu yönde bir çalisma ile korumaci haritalarin belli alan ve sinirlari dogal bir durummus gibi sabitlestirdigini mi; yoksa koruma olasiliklari ve sonuçlarinin toplumsal-psikolojik anlayisla ele alinmasina katkida mi bulundugunu sorgulayabilecegiz. Çalismamizin sonunda, ele aldigimiz sorunlari telafi edecek stratejileri inceleyecek ve 'karsi-haritalama' fikrini önerecegiz. Korunan alanlarin adaptasyonundan daha elestirel yöntemlerin uygulanmasina kadar varabilecek çesitli olasiliklar bölgesel odaklari ve haritacilik uygulamalarini sorgulayabilir. Sonuç olarak, insani, insan-disi, ve türler-arasi ortamlardaki güç iliskilerini ele alan bir bakis açisinin koruma haritaciliginin mantigini kavramamiz için temel oldugunu iddia ediyoruz.

Read article at http://www.acme-journal.org/vol4/LMHHDH.pdf

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Harris, Leila M. (2006). "Irrigation, Gender, and Social Geographies of the Changing Waterscapes of Southeastern Anatolia." Environment and Planning D: Society and Space. 24(2): 187-213.

Abstract: Most theorists understand gender geographies as highly differentiated and shifting, in terms of both time and space. If gender is historically and geographically contingent then the analysis of gender should be attentive to the particular conditions that materialize the very idea of gender, giving it the appearance of being fixed and natural. The physical landscape, or waterscape in the case of southeastern Turkey , is potentially central to the ways that gender is invoked and lived in particular settings, with important effects. Using case-study work on irrigation-related changes in southeastern Turkey , I consider gender in relation to livelihoods and work practices, landholdings, and ethnicity revealing that, in addition to conditioning differential outcomes for residents of the plain, these categories of social difference are themselves fundamentally renegotiated and recast in relation to waterscape change. I argue that explicit consideration of environmental conditions and practices is central to understanding the operation of gender in certain contexts, as well as to understanding the lived experiences of women and men, providing insights for gender theory and politics.

Sulama, Toplumsal Cinsiyet, ve Güneydogu Anadolu'nun Degisen Su Alani Toplumsal Cografyasi

Özet:Bir çok kuram toplumsal cinsiyet cografyasini zaman ve uzam içerisinde sürekli degisen ve farklilasan bir kavram olarak ele alir. Eger toplumsal cinsiyet tarihsel ve cografi faktörlerle bagli ise, hangi sartlarin toplumsal cinsiyeti sanki dogal ve sabit bir kavrammis gibi sundugunu analiz etmemiz gerekir. Fiziksel alan, veya Güneydogu Anadolu örneginde su alani, toplumsal cinsiyetin önemli etkilerle beraber nasil olustugunu ve yasandigini etkili bir sekilde gösterme potansiyeline sahiptir. Bu makalede Güneydogu Anadolu'da sulamaya bagli yasanan degisimleri inceleyen örnek-olay çalismama dayanarak toplumsal cinsiyetin geçim ve çalisma kosullari, toprak sahipligi, ve etnik gruplarla iliskisini inceliyorum. Vardigim sonuç, bu toplumsal kategorileri bölge halkina farkli sonuçlar getirdigi gibi, su eksenindeki degisimlere bagli olarak bu kategorilerin kendileri yeni müzakerelerle sekillenmekte ve yeniden düzenlenmektedir. Bu makale dogal çevre sartlarinin ve uygulamalarinin ele alinmasinin toplumsal cinsiyetin belli ortamlarda nasil yer aldigini anlamamiz açisindan ciddiyetini ortaya koymakta ve toplumsal cinsiyet teorileri ve siyaseti açisindan kadinlarin ve erkeklerin yasam tecrübelerini bu bakis açisiyla daha iyi anlayabilecegimizi tartismaktadir.

Harris, L. (2005). "Negotiating Inequalities: Democracy, Gender, and the Politics of Difference in Water User Groups of southeastern Turkey." in M. Arsel and F. Adaman, Turkish Environmentalism: Between Democracy and Development. Ashgate:185-200.

Abstract: Through an investigation of emergent democratic water user groups in newly irrigated areas of southeastern Turkey, this chapter explores some of the key tensions and ambivalences with respect to democratic, participatory and bottom-up environmental management. Among theorists of development or resource management, democratic mechanisms are often maintained as desirable, if not inevitable, despite a number of documented failures with respect to observed outcomes of decentralized management institutions across varied contexts. Detailing key findings from other contexts and engaging case study research related to environmental politics and irrigation management mechanisms in Turkey , it is argued that there is a need to more critically evaluate 'democracy', in particular with respect to environmental and social equity goals. Common assumptions that social equity or environmental sustainability goals are served by democratic or participatory management need to be fundamentally questioned, especially given the degree to which distributed management mechanisms that are promoted resonate with more mainstream and economistic approaches to development, particularly those associated with neoliberalism, devolution, and related trends.

E sitsizligin Müzakeresi: Demokrasi,Toplumsal Cinsiyet, ve Güneydogu Türkiye'sinin Sulam Birliklerinde Farklilik Siyaseti

Özet: Güneydogu Anadolu'da demokratik yapida yeni olusmaya baslayan sulama birliklerinin incelemesine dayanan bu çalisma, demokrasi, katilimci ve tabandan-yukari çevre yönetiminin bazi kilit gerilim ve ikilemlerini tartisiyor. Her ne kadar yerinden-yönetimle yürütülen kurumlarin farkli ortamlarda görülen basarisizligi bazi çalismalar ile ortaya konmus olsa da, kalkinma ve kaynak yönetimi kuramcilari arasinda demokratik mekanizmalarin tercih edildigini görüyoruz. Farkli baglamlarda ortaya konan çalismalarin sonuçlari ve derinlemesine yürütülen örnek-inceleme çalismasina dayanan bu çalisma ise çevre ve toplumsal esitlik için daha elestirel bir demokrasi degerlendirmesi gerektigini iddia ediyor. Gözlenen demokratik veya katilimci yönetim mekanizmalari daha ziyade ortagörüs ve ekonomistik yaklasimlarla uyum gösterip; özellikle neoliberalism, yönetim-devri (devolution) ve benzer egilimlerle örtüsüyor. Bu nedenle bu tür dagilimci yönetim mekanizmalarin dogrudan toplumsal esitlik ve çevresel sürdürülebilirlik sagladigini savunan varsayimlari sorgulamaliyiz.

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Harris, L. and N. Atalan (2004). "Developing Women’s Spaces: Evaluation of the Importance of Sex Segregated Spaces for Gender and Development Goals in Southeastern Turkey." Kadin/Woman 2000.

Abstract: As part of Turkey’s ambitious Southeastern Anatolia development project (GAP), community centers catering largely to women are being established throughout Turkey’s southeast, with aims to teach literacy and entrepreneurial skills, build confidence, and to help overcome considerable gender disparities that characterize the region. This paper interrogates the importance of these centers (ÇATOM) in relation to experiences of those who participate in the centers, state goals, and in conversation with theoretical understandings of gender and space. In particular, we consider the importance of sex-segregated spaces for the women and girls who participate in center activities. Additionally, we critically evaluate the center model to serve as input into planning processes, with particular attention to the relationship between outcomes of the spaces and stated goals and intent of the community centers. We also conclude with a brief discussion of how this work may contribute to advance theoretical understandings of the connections between gender and space, as well as gender theorizations of states.

Kadin Merkezlerinin Gelisimi: Güney Dogu Anadolu’da Mekan Iliskilerinin Elestirel Degerlendirilmesi. Leila M. Harris, Nurcan Atalan. University of Wisconsin-Madison Istanbul

Özet: Çok kapsamli bir bölge kalkinma projesi olan Güneydogu Anadolu Projesi kapsaminda genel olarak kadinlara okuma-yazma ve girisimcilik ögreten, özgüvenlerini gelistiren ve Bölge’deki toplumsal cinsiyet farkliliklarinin üstesinden gelmek için hizmet veren toplum merkezleri (ÇATOM),Türkiye’nin güneydogusunda kurulmaya baslandi. Bu makalede, bu merkezlerin önemi, katilimcilarin deneyimleri, devletin bu merkezleri kurmaktaki amaci teorik çerçevede toplumsal cinsiyet ve mekan kavramlari üzerinden tartisilmaya çalisilacaktir. Burada, özellikle, bu merkezlerde kurslara katilan genç kiz ve kadinlar açisindan cinsiyete göre ayrilmis mekanlarin öneminden, mekanlarin hizmet ettigi çiktilar ile devletin amaçlari arasindaki iliskiden bahsedilmekte ve yakin gelecekte açilmasi planlanan pek çok merkez düsünüldügünde merkez modeli için girdi olusturabilecek elestirel bir degerlendirme getirilmektedir. Sonuç kisminda ise, bu çalismanin toplumsal cinsiyet ve mekan arasindaki iliski konusundaki teorik çalismalara ne gibi katkilari olacagina dair kisa bir tartisma yer almaktadir.

Sneddon, C., L. Harris, R. Dimitrov, U. Ozesmi (2002). "Contested Waters: Social Conflict, Spatial Scale and Sustainability in Aquatic Systems." Society and Natural Resources 15:663-675.

Abstract: Adequate interpretations of the complex social processes that contribute to the transformation of aquatic ecosystems and subsequent conflicts over water demand an interdisciplinary perspective. In this special issue, we focus on the multiplecauses of conflicts over water, sensitive to the complex interrelations between and within social and ecological phenomena that result in transformed and contested environments. The cases presented here--representing research carried out in Bangladesh , Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey, and the United States--emphasize three interrelated themes: the need to account for multiple spatial and temporal scales in analyzing conficts over water and water-related resources; the complex character of environmental (or ecological) conflict; and questions of sustainability. Ultimately, more incisive understandings of the multiple causes of conflicts over water and aquatic resources are contingent on the integration of multiple disciplinary perspectives. This understanding will in turn promote uses of water and water-related resources that sustain rather than degrade aquatic socioecological systems.

Tartismali Sular: Sucul Sistemlerde Toplumsal Anlasmazlik, Uzamsal Ölçek ve Sürdürülebilirlik

Özet: Sucul eko-sistemlerin dönüsümüne katkida buluna karmasik toplumsal süreçlerin yeteri sayidaki yorumlar ve su talebini takiben ortaya çikan anlasmazliklar disiplinler-arasi bir bakis açisi gerektirmektedir. Bu özel sayida, su anlasmazliklarinin çok yönlü nedenlerini dönüsen ve çekismeli çevrelere sebep veren toplumsal ve ekolojik olgularin hem kendi içinde ve hem de birbirleri arasindaki karmasik iliskiler bütününe duyarli olarak inceliyoruz. Banglades, Pakistan, Tayland, Türkiye ve Amerika Birlesik Devletleri'nde yapilan vaka çalismalarinin sonuçlarina dayanarak burada birbirine eklemlenen 3 konuyu ele aliyoruz: su anlasmazliklarinin uzamsal ve zamansal ölçeklerde ele alinmasi gerekliligi, çevresel veya ekolojik anlasmazliklarin karmasik yapisi, ve sürdürülebilirlik ekseninde dönen sorular. Su ve sucul kaynaklar üstüne çikan anlasmazliklarin degisik nedenlerini daha net anlayabilmemiz ancak çok yönlü disiplinleri birlestiren bir bakis açisi ile mümkündür. Böyle bir anlayis toplumsal-ekolojik sistemleri su ve suyla ilgili kaynaklarin kullanimi ile tahrip eden uygulamalar yerine bu sistemlerin devamini sürdürebilecek su yönetimi uygulamalarinin yerlestirilmesine yardimci olur.

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Harris, L. (2002). "Water and Conflict Geographies of the Southeast Anatolia Project." Society and Natural Resources, 15:743-759.

Abstract:

While many accounts of water and conflict focus on the possibility of future interstate conflict resulting from changing quantities and qualities of freshwater, a multiscalar approach helps to demonstrate the manifold, complex, and reciprocal relations between uses of water and social-political conflicts. Using Turkey 's Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) as a demonstration of the complex interrelations between water uses and social conflicts, this article illustrates the multiple temporalities, spatialities, and modalities of water and conflict geographies. Explicit attention to the historical and geographical dimensions of water and conflict in specific settings helps to complicate our understanding of these relationships, points to the importance of intrastate and local scales as potential sites of conflict (including the role of nonstate actors), and enriches discussions related to "sustainability" of water resource uses over time.

Güneydogu Anadolu Projesi'nin Su ve Anlasmazlik Cografyalari

Özet: Su ve anlasmazlik konulu bir çok degerlendirme, tatli sularin degisen miktar ve kalitesi hakkinda gelecekte karsilasilmasi muhtemel bir devletler arasi anlasmazliga odaklanir iken, çok-ölçekli bir yaklasim su kullanimi ve toplumsal-siyasal anlasmazliklarin çesitli, karmasik ve karsilikli iliskilerini ortaya çikartir. Türkiye'nin Güneydogu Anadolu Projesi'ni (GAP) su kullanimi ve toplumsal anlasmazliklar arasindaki karmasik iliskilerin bir göstergesi olarak ele alan bu makale, su ve anlasmazlik cografyasinin çok yönlü zamanlamalarini (temporality), uzamlarini (spatialities) ve tarzlarini (modaliteleri) ortaya koymaktadir. Belirli ortamlardaki su ve anlasmazliklarin tarihsel ve cografi boyutlarinin derinlerine dikkatle inen bir yaklasim bu iliskileri anlayisimiza karmasik ama içerikli bir boyut katar. Bu bakis açisi, devlet-içi ve yerel ölçeklerin potansiyel anlasmazlik alanlari olduguna ve devlet-disi aktörlerin bu süreçteki yerine dikkat çekebilir ve de su kaynaklarinin zaman içerisindeki sürdürülebilirligine dair tartismalari zenginlestirebilir.

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