The politics of uncertainty in a global market: the hazelnut exchange and its production

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine how the market works on the ground. It analyzes the hazelnut market in Turkey and explores the interaction between the market agents. It reveals how this interaction relates to the presence, production and circulation of forms of uncertainty. It also ascertains what uncertainty means in market settings and what role production, representation, dissemination and limiting of uncertainty play in market relations. In market relations, intentionally or unintentionally, individuals try to forecast, value, prevent and qualify (as risk or loss) uncertainties. They assume that they can perceive, measure and avoid uncertainties on the basis of probabilities, level of knowledge about unknowns or ability to overcome. As such, uncertainty is assumed to be given yet with inadequate attention into its constitutive dynamics, actors of its making and its role in the market creation. The dissertation examines how uncertainties are constructed and what role this construction plays in constituting the market exchange and relations. The conclusions reached are that economizing uncertainty becomes a market device in production, exchange, circulation, pricing and policy making. The dissertation starts with an analysis of the market reform policies and agricultural transformation in Turkey. Next, it traces the processes of the production and calculation of hazelnuts, examining how hazelnuts are produced and measured under uncertainty, and how uncertainty is created in the calculation of hazelnuts. It then explains exchange relations and price politics created at different spheres and with different expectations. After that, it explores the struggles and controversies among market groups over the production, calculation, exchange and pricing of hazelnuts and policy making. Subsequently, it analyzes what the politics of uncertainty means and how it is produced in the market setting. Following uncertainties and observing their making in markets require a research program that draws on literatures concerning economics, political science and sociology. The research program includes the discussion of material things, individuals, formal and informal institutions and prices as well as their interactions. The research was based primarily on qualitative interviews, participant observations, case studies and document analysis conducted between 2006 and 2009.