Istanbul’s intangible cultural heritage as embodied by street animals

ABSTRACT

Green, marginal, and sacred spaces in Istanbul host dogs, cats, and wild birds. In this essay, I argue that citizens enact embodied memories from the Ottoman era by caring for these animals. While birds are iconic representatives of the modern city, and street cats have become media denizens, the lives of street dogs are sadder. Animal rights activists are mobilized by the history of Ottoman administration efforts at eradicating them. Unlike actions inspired by this history, enactments of embodied memory are less conscious, such as residents cooking and distributing food to street cats. However, I argue that these are enacted social memories of compassion and charity and are an embodied form of intangible cultural heritage. Ottoman-era social practices of caring for street animals create an historical and legal foundation for justifying the right of street animals to live in the city.

KEYWORDS:

• Human-animal relations
• urban space
• charity
• Islam
• Istanbul

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to all my informants who taught me about the street animals of Istanbul, but especially Sami Uçan, who led me through the city on foot to the places where he finds and photographs the street cats. I thank Jeremy Walton for organizing the stimulating conference at the Max Planck Institute in April 2017, which prompted me to write this piece. I also thank the reviewers and David Henig, the editor, for his careful work to bring the special issue to completion. I am grateful for research support for this project from the Fulbright Foundation, the UUP, and SUNY Buffalo State. Finally, I thank Kazim, the street cat from Beşiktaş who reminds me daily through his antics and zest for life of the importance of the lives of Istanbul’s street animals.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. There is more to say about the distinction between dogs and cats and how it is deployed in debates about Istanbul’s future, a topic that I will turn to later.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by US Fulbright Scholar; SUNY Research Foundation Research Incentive Grant and UUP Individual Development Grant.