YARIM KALMIŞ GELECEKLER: GÜNEY AFRİKA'DA ENFORMEL BİR YERLEŞİM BİRİMİNDE ALTYAPI VE ÖZLEMLER ÜZERİNE ETNOGRAFİK DÜŞÜNCELER

Bu yazı "yarım kalmışlık" meselesini saha çalışmasının temel niteliklerinden biri olarak ortaya koyuyor. Yazıda saha çalışmasının ontolojik ve dünyevi/zamansal bir koşulu olarak yarım kalmışlığın, insanların özlemleriyle altyapıya dayalı yaşam koşulları arasındaki karmaşık ilişkiden kaynaklandığını ileri sürüyorum. Yarım kalmışlığı saha çalışmasının doğasında var olan temel bir ilke olarak benimsemek, antropolojik araştırmanın nasıl yeniden yapılandırılabileceğine dair bir dizi potansiyel fikrin tartışmaya açılmasına da öncülük ediyor. Bu çalışmada Güney Afrika'da enformel bir yerleşim birimi olan Enkanini'de yürütülen saha çalışmasından elde edilen iki hikâye üzerinden, bu bölgede yaşayan insanların kendi özlemlerini içinde yaşadıkları özel altyapısal koşullarla nasıl müzakere ettikleri ve bu koşullarda nasıl idare edebildikleri anlatılıyor. Yanı sıra makale iShack adı verilen ve söz konusu yerleşim birimindeki çoğu hanenin güneş enerjisine dayalı elektriğe kavuşmasını sağlayan bir sivil toplum projesine de ışık tutuyor. Bölgede yaşayan insanların gelecek özlemlerinin şekillenmesinde yaşamsal bir rol üstlenen söz konusu proje, yarım kalmış geleceklerin doğmasına da vesile oluyor.

UNFINISHED FUTURES: ETHNOGRAPHIC REFLECTIONS ON INFRASTRUCTURE AND ASPIRATIONS IN AN INFORMAL SETTLEMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA

The paper introduces "unfinishedness" as a central feature of fieldwork. I argue that unfinishedness, as a temporal and ontological condition of fieldwork, is evoked through the complex relation of people's aspirations and infrastructural life situation. By consequence, the acceptance of unfinishedness as an inherent principle of fieldwork encounters opens up potential lines of thought about how to reconfigure anthropological research. Based on field research in Enkanini, an informal settlement, in South Africa, two field stories are presented that demonstrate how people negotiate their aspirations in conjunction with particular infrastructural conditions and how they get by in the meantime. Moreover, the article sheds light on the so-called iShack project, a nongovernmental project that has brought solar electricity to most households in the settlement. This particular project is crucial for the shaping of people's future aspirations and gives way to states of unfinished futures.

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