Bachelor Room as a Space of Hidden Homelessness: Everyday Life Performances of Turkish Immigrants in Amsterdam
Şener Kaya, Adem SağırWhile experiencing being foreigners in Amsterdam, Turkish immigrants staying in bachelor rooms are people who are “overshadowed” because they cannot participate in the public space outside of their own space due to certain limitations. The subject of the study is how people living in single rooms build their social relationships in the context of hidden homelessness. The study aims to understand the realities behind Turkish immigrants’ daily life experiences and performances living in bachelor rooms in Amsterdam. While studies on bachelor rooms mainly focus on issues such as housing, employment qualifications, and problems experienced by people who migrated internally, they only touch on how the people staying here build their social relations at a limited level. Additionally, bachelor pads have not been thoroughly investigated as an example of hidden homelessness. The original aspects of the study are how people who try to survive in single rooms in a different culture in Amsterdam build their social relations and the in-depth investigation of bachelor rooms in the context of hidden homelessness. While their performances in public spaces represent the front of the stage, the objective reality in this study, which tries to understand the reason for their performances in front of the stage, is that the places where people stay are one of the limited areas where they can show their true identities. A qualitative research method was preferred in the study, and in-depth interviews were conducted with convenience sampling within the scope of the explanatory case study. During the study, participants described their rooms as “tourist houses” rather than “bachelor’s houses/rooms.” The biggest problems of the individuals living here are that they come to the country illegally and do not know the language. This situation limits participation in social life and performance in daily life, which are similar to the problems experienced by people living as hidden homeless people.
Bir Gizli Evsizlik Mekânı Olarak Bekâr Odası: Amsterdam’daki Türk Göçmenlerin Gündelik Hayat Performansları
Şener Kaya, Adem SağırÇalışmanın konusu gizli evsizlik bağlamında bekâr odalarında yaşayan kişilerin sosyal ilişkilerini nasıl inşa ettikleridir. Çalışmanın amacı Amsterdam’da bekâr odalarında yaşayan Türk göçmenlerin gündelik hayat deneyimleri ve performanslarının arkasındaki gerçeklikleri anlamaktır. Bekâr odalarında kalan Türk göçmenler, Amsterdam’da yabancı olmayı deneyimlerken kendi mekânlarının dışında belli sınırlılıklardan dolayı kamusal alana çok dâhil olamadıklarından “gölgede kalmış” kişilerdir. Bekâr odaları üzerine yapılan çalışmalar daha çok iç göçle gelen kişilerin barınma, istihdam nitelikleri, yaşadıkları sorunlar gibi konulara değinirken burada kalan kişilerin sosyal ilişkilerini nasıl inşa ettiklerine sınırlı bir düzeyde değinmektedir. Ayrıca bekâr odaları gizli evsizlik örneği olarak derinlemesine araştırılmamıştır. Amsterdam’da farklı bir kültür içerisinde bekâr odalarında var olma çabası gösteren kişilerin sosyal ilişkilerini nasıl inşa ettiği ve bekâr odalarının gizli evsizlik bağlamında derinlemesine araştırılması çalışmanın özgün yanlarını oluşturmaktadır. Kamusal alanda gösterdikleri performanslar sahne önünü temsil ederken asıl gerçeklik sahne önünde gösterdikleri performansların nedenini anlamaya çalışan bu çalışmada kişilerin kaldıkları mekânlar gerçek kimliklerini gösterebildikleri sınırlı alanlardan biridir. Çalışmada nitel araştırma yöntemi tercih edilmiş, açıklayıcı durum çalışması kapsamında kolayda örnekleme ile derinlemesine görüşmeler gerçekleştirilmiştir. Çalışma sürecinde katılımcılar yaşadıkları odaları “bekâr evi/odası” yerine “turist evi” olarak tanımlamışlardır. Burada yaşayan bireylerin yasal olmayan yollarla ülkeye gelmeleri ve dil bilmemeleri en büyük problemleridir. Bu durum gizli evsiz olarak yaşamlarını sürdüren kişilerin yaşadıkları sorunlarla benzerlik gösteren sosyal hayata katılımı ve gündelik hayattaki performansları sınırlandırmaktadır.
Purpose of the Study: The ground of this research is to explain the experience of immigration in a divided public space through the relationships between daily life performances and space. The main purpose of the study is to understand the daily life experiences and performances of Turkish immigrants living in bachelor rooms in Amsterdam.
Theoretical Background of the Study: Individuals living in bachelor rooms, which constitute the subject of the study, are evaluated in the context of “hidden homelessness” within the temporal classification. There are different definitions for the concept of hidden homelessness. Hidden homelessness includes individuals who do not have their own home and who live with acquaintances or who live in places that are not suitable for living (Erickson, 2004, p. 204). Hidden homeless people are a group of people who continue their lives in crowded places with their relatives, in bachelor rooms or by working daily jobs with others, who have an active social life, and who are hidden because they cannot access state support because they live in unsuitable places (Özdemir, 2010, p. 79; Woolrych, Gibson, Sixsmith, & Sixsmith, 2015, pp. 238-239).
Turkish immigrants living in bachelor rooms are considered to represent “others” in a divided public space and to be a part of the hidden homeless population. Considering that many of the community members work as illegal workers, it is possible to say that we are faced with a homeless mass that is difficult to determine numerically. While Turkish immigrants come to Amsterdam with the hope of finding a job that will provide financial security, they also draw a typology that is “nowhere” outside the space. It was observed that the participants tried to protect their own spaces even though they live in bachelor rooms and are demographically “non-existent”. The fact that they defined the rooms they live in as “tourist houses” instead of the adjective “bachelor” during the study reveals how complex this protective instinct is. Although “tourist houses” are generally used to describe the places where people stay when they go on holiday for touristic purposes, the concept is defined in this study as a concept that defines hidden homelessness. Thus, immigrant spaces defined as “bachelor rooms” in Turkey have evolved to represent the places where people who go to Amsterdam and carry their sociology on their backs stay to meet their shelter needs. The fact that people staying here are described as “tourists” has become a situation that has normalized the name of the place. Although it may seem like a different and softer discourse, people living here struggle with the difficulties brought by their immigrant identity and show various performances to exist in daily life.
The Model and Problematics of the Study: This study aims to find an answer to the basic research question, “How do people living in bachelor rooms in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, participate in daily life?” The difference of this study from other studies is that it tries to determine whether bachelor rooms can be modelled as an example of hidden homelessness through Turks living abroad. Although bachelor rooms find a place in the literature as an example of hidden homelessness, the fact that it is not a subject that has been studied constitutes the problem of the study. In addition, it is important both to determine the general framework of hidden homelessness and to understand where bachelor rooms stand in this determination.
Methodology of the Study: Within the scope of the research purpose, to create a chain of evidence, firstly theoretical information was obtained by examining the documents in the literature and then interviews were conducted based on the open-ended semi-structured interview technique with the participant observation method. For this purpose, within the scope of the study considered as an example of “hidden homelessness”, interviews lasting an average of 45-60 minutes were conducted with 8 participants using the convenience sampling technique to continue in-depth interviews living in the Sloterdijk Neighborhood, which is approximately 5 km away from the Amsterdam Center. As a result of the field study, the data obtained from the 55-page document was finalized using the thematic content analysis technique.
Results and Discussion: All participants in the study are male. The hidden homelessness phenomenon, which is one of the assumptions of this study, has also emerged in a male-dominated context. Accordingly, the subject of bachelor rooms in Amsterdam is male and when we talk about performances, it is possible to say that daily life is constructed by male immigrants. Establishing limited relationships in daily life due to not knowing the language and staying away from social opportunities are practices that ground bad feelings. The least relations of the participants are with official institutions and citizens of other countries living in the Netherlands and coming from outside Turkey. The lack of relations with official institutions is because most immigrants are illegal, i.e. tourists. It is also seen that those who live here with permission and residence permits have very limited relations with official institutions. The fact that participants do not have any social relations with citizens of other countries is generally related to the social networks established by the immigration experience. Accordingly, citizens of each country prefer to spend more time in their own circle of trust, that is, with their own citizens. It was observed that the participants’ involvement in a common public sphere with residents in Amsterdam was limited. For participants, home, neighbourhood and workplace are the most trusted areas. In this context, it was determined that being both an immigrant and a foreigner affected the participants’ performance in their daily lives. Although the neighbourhood where the participants live is densely populated by Turks, it has been observed that they do not leave this area due to the feeling of insecurity, and it has been determined that this has turned into a group dynamic among the community members. In addition, the fact that the Turks here do not tend to continue a neighbourhood culture like in their homeland and that the people they have contact with are limited are other conclusions of the study. In addition to a busy work schedule, spending time outside is a situation of concern for them, as being caught by the police for any reason will result in their deportation. The difference from other immigrant Turks in Europe is that the “homes” here, as living spaces, contain temporary relationships and interactions. Therefore, it is not possible to talk about a certain continuity for the participants in their daily life performances. In addition, the state of restriction in many respects creates psychological pressure on the individual. For most of the community members, being in the Netherlands feels good spiritually, but it has been observed that they still experience a deep longing for their homeland. In conclusion, the bachelor rooms, or rather the tourist house in the context of the results of the study, have shown that they are a model of hidden homelessness.
