Abstract
This proposal investigates how micro-events—fleeting, everyday interactions in public spaces—operate within more-than-human assemblages to generate a distinct urban culture along Istanbul’s Anatolian shoreline. Drawing on materialist theory, the research posits that culture emerges from dynamic entanglements of human practices, ecological processes, and material affordances in micro-events. The research argues that micro-events are co-constituted by non-human actors: ancient Platanus orientalis trees framing impromptu tea gatherings, seagulls (Larus michahellis) scavenging simit crumbs during vendor exchanges, or tidal rhythms synchronizing ferry-queue rituals. These hybrid encounters reveal how flora, fauna, and elemental forces (wind, waves, stone) actively participate in Istanbul’s ‘invisible architecture’, forging cultural identity through a material-discursive meshwork. Using ethnography and spatial mapping attuned to material agency, we trace how these ephemeral events shape place identity, social norms, and collective memory. Grounded in Lefebvre’s dialectic of social-material space production and Pink’s embodied ethnography, this work demonstrates the shoreline’s co-production through cross-species encounters and material intra-actions. By centering the entanglement of matter and meaning in micro-events, we expose how Istanbul’s shoreline emerges as a lived, multi-species cultural landscape.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Micro-events, More-than-human assemblages, Material agency, Spatial ethnography
