Kadıköy rock culture as an affectual environment in transition

Abstract

This thesis takes an ecomusicological approach to analyzing Kadıköy rock culture as an affectual environment in transition. Kadıköy rock culture is examined as an ecosystem and the relationship between space, music, and affects is discussed as a significant component of the states of co-vibration and co-existence. The participants of the in-depth interviews, who are members of this ecosystem, co-exist within the cultural environment of Kadıköy rock culture, and subsequently experience an intense sense of belonging to a community. This sense of belonging is often expressed in the form of a home narrative, which was one of the major themes in the interviews. Kadıköy’s affectual character and the centrality of the home narrative manifest themselves in the discourses and narratives on the rock culture. I argue that sounds and affects are of utmost important in the transformation of the home narrative into shared emotions within this cultural environment. The transition of Kadıköy rock culture into a new phase along with the larger social transformations was a turning point from which new affects and certain emotional states emerged. Regarding that, the different conceptualizations of the home by nostalgia and solastalgia provide important insights about a fundamental ontological problem that has also been discussed in ecomusicological approaches Ecomusicological theorists have identified this ontological problem as a misconceived separation between nature and culture. I argue that such a misperception creates the fear of losing the home in Kadıköy rock culture as well and that this fear can replaced and alleviated with the notion of sustainability.