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A master's thesis from Aalborg University
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Researching those who research. The case of Syrians in Turkey

Author

Term

4. term

Publication year

2020

Submitted on

Pages

59

Abstract

Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan humanitære, udviklings- og statslige aktører producerer og anvender viden om syrere i Tyrkiet, og hvordan dataudvinding bidrager til videnøkonomier. Med udgangspunkt i rapporter og studier udarbejdet af Verdensbanken, FN-agenturer, NGO’er og tyrkiske statslige institutioner anvender specialet en foucauldiansk ramme og en dybdegående dokumentanalyse til at vurdere, om der forekommer overforskning af syrere i Tyrkiet. Analysen viser, at en stærk fokusering på bestemte kategorier, især sårbarhed, er med til at skabe tavse kategorier, der falder uden for opmærksomheden. Den påpeger også, at politikdrevet forskning ofte betoner succeshistorier og de positive effekter af ydelser frem for at indfange de forskedes levede erfaringer, og at overforskning udfordrer selve humanitær praksis. Specialet konkluderer, at syrere i Tyrkiet er blevet genstand for overforskning, og at den måde, viden produceres, cirkuleres og reproduceres på, nærer videnøkonomier. Arbejdet fungerer som et afsæt for videre studier af videnøkonomier og for metodiske og etiske diskussioner om forskning blandt fordrevne befolkninger.

This thesis examines how humanitarian, development, and state actors produce and use knowledge about Syrians in Turkey, and how data extraction contributes to knowledge economies. Drawing on reports and studies by the World Bank, UN agencies, NGOs, and Turkish state institutions, it applies a Foucauldian framework and in-depth document analysis to assess whether Syrians in Turkey are subject to over-research. The analysis shows that a strong focus on specific categories, especially vulnerability, helps create silent categories that receive little attention. It also finds that policy-driven research often highlights success stories and the positive impacts of services rather than capturing lived experiences, and that over-research challenges humanitarian practice itself. The thesis concludes that Syrians in Turkey have become an object of over-research and that the ways knowledge is produced, circulated, and reproduced fuel knowledge economies. It offers a foundation for further work on knowledge economies and for methodological and ethical debates about researching displaced populations.

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