A portrait of globalization and urbanization on Esenler, a Turkish village (2011)
Undergraduate: Zoe Litaker
Faculty Advisor: Sarah Shields
Department: Art
A photo-essay on the impact of globalization and urbanization on Esenler, a Turkish village
By: Zoe Litaker
The research trip I took led me to many valuable discoveries about the nature of globalization and how it has shifted the everyday life of the villagers in Esenler. I went to do a portrait project so that I could correctly show the demography of the village. This would allow me to show visually what part – if any – of the population was missing from that picture. I was also able to dig deeper into the anthropology of the village and how people relate to each other in that society.
My observations of the village showed me what I had expected to see in terms of the demography of the village. I took a sample size of 105 people from the village population of 750 people. The population over 40 makes up 34% of the entire population and is evenly split between men and women. Children dominate the village making up 42% of the population. The middle and working ages between 18 to 40 see a sharp drop that is accounted for by the outmigration of villagers. With the industrialization of Turkey small village farms can hardly compete with larger farms that utilize more advanced machines. Many in this age group, especially young men who make up only 10% of the population, move to where there is more work, Konya or further. My host family had a male relative living and working in Holland.
From audio interviews and direct observation life in the village has modernized significantly.