Globalization in the neighborhood: from the nation-state to Bilkent center

Abstract

The main premise of this article is that globalization is both a universal phenomenon with common characteristic tendencies and a condition of plurality defined by the historical and geographical specificities of particular localities. This paradoxical point is explained in the theoretical context of the spatial configuration of globalization. The main concepts used to that end are Robertson's notion of glocalization, Castells' notion of polarization, Sassen's notion of global city and Appadurai's conception of imaginary worlds. The main objective is to elucidate, both in theory and in practice, a series of contradictions, ambiguities and irregularities that result from particular articulations of global and local developments. Turkey is used as a case study in order to analyze the practical implications of globalization(s) at both the national and local levels and at the level of neighborhoods. Borrowing from Appadurai's distinction between a locality and a neighborhood, the article argues that an empirical analysis of globalization(s) in neighborhoods helps us problematize the unsettling consequences of practical modes of glocalizations. Such problematization is necessary to understand the universal condition of globalization as an open-ended process that shapes and is shaped by particular cultural, political and spatial patterns.