Echoes of Belonging, Queerness, and Diaspora

The Politics of Multi-Sensory Meyhane Rituals

Meyhanes, sensorially rich taverns in Turkey, have long been associated with minority communities, particularly Jewish, Greek, and Armenian proprietors during the Ottoman period, when alcohol bans applied to Muslims. Following the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923, these taverns evolved within the context of secular reforms, becoming icons of a bourgeois lifestyle. Photographs of Atatürk at rakı tables (the national anise-flavored alcoholic beverage) reinforced their symbolic connection to Turkey’s secular identity, alongside distinctive cuisine, codes of conduct, and rituals of sociability. This study traces the diasporic evolution of meyhanes through three migratory waves: labor migrations of the 1960s, political exiles following the 1980 military coup, and the rise of authoritarianism under the AKP after 2002. In Germany and the Netherlands, the music of migrant laborers from Turkey (1960s–1990s) reflected resistance to racism and moved beyond nostalgic idealism, with Kurdish workers leading this shift. By the 1990s, queer immigrants, transformed traditionally male-dominated, nostalgically romanticized meyhanes, introducing drag performances and addressing displacement and belonging. Today, diasporic meyhane rituals persist and evolve in queer spaces like Berlin’s “gayhanes,” or virtual gatherings in London. This doctoral research examines the multi-sensory manifestations of these rituals to understand how they shape, and are reshaped by, diverse linguistic, cultural, and gender identities. This research uses sensory archival materials and ethnographic drawings to document these evolving forms of belonging in the diaspora, particularly in the Netherlands.

RESEARCH TEAM

PI: Suzi Asa (PhD Candidate, PI)
PhD Co-Supervisors: Fiona P. McDonald, PhD (UBCO) and Dr. Jonathan Cinnamon

Committee Members: Peter McMurray, PhD (Anthropology, Cambridge University) and Aylin Kuryel, PhD (Ciritical Analysis, University of Amsterdam)