“Ambivalent Infrastructures.The Geology and Geopolitics of Power in the Upper Euphrates”
- Date: Feb 17, 2022
- Time: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM (Local Time Germany)
- Speaker: Zeynep Kezer (Newcastle University)
- Zeynep Kezer is a Professor at the School of Architecture Planning at Newcastle University (UK). She is interested in examining how modern state-formation processes and nationalist ideologies play out in the built environment, informing everyday practices and identity formation.
- Location: Zoom Meeting
This talk explores how
Keban, the first in a system of 22 mega-dam projects built on Turkey’s Tigris
and Euphrates Rivers, transformed the region’s cultural landscapes.
Hydroelectric dams were heralded as visionary infrastructural projects and
unprecedented engineering feats that would modernize the country with extensive
irrigation to augment agricultural production and electricity production to
mitigate energy rationing. When completed in 1981, Keban, would supply a
quarter of Turkey’s electricity, regularize Euphrates’ flow, temper the
climate, and introduce fisheries—a new industry.
For more details please contact recke(at)mmg.mpg.de.