Negotiating tradition, modernity and identity in consumer space : a study of a shopping mall and revived coffeehouse

Abstract

This thesis explores the meanings consumers give to consuming two social, commercial, and cultural spaces that have predecessors in the Ottomans and that recently have become very popular among young urban modern consumers: the shopping mall and the revived coffeehouse. The predecessors of these two spaces are the covered bazaars and the coffeehouses and the history of these spaces have also been investigated to be able to refer on aspects of traditions and modernity that could be revealed in the research. The ethnographical research on young urban and modern consumers of Akmerkez shopping mall and Misir “revived nargile coffeehouse” has revealed the meanings consumers give to consuming both traditions and modernity in these spaces.