Summary: with Aneil and Ryan <br><br> Special Guest: Serra Hakyemez<br> Is waiting political? Can you cut in line at Starbucks during your hectic morning commute? In this episode of TAL we team up with <a href="http://thisanthrolife.com/?feed-stats-url=aHR0cHM6Ly9icmFuZGVpcy5hY2FkZW1pYS5lZHUvU2VycmFIYWt5ZW1leg%3D%3D&feed-stats-url-post-id=1879">Serra Hakyemez</a>, a Junior Research Fellow from the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University to discuss her paper entitled, “Waiting, Acting Political, Hope, Doubt, and Endurance in the Anti-Terrorism Courts of Northern Kurdistan”, which focuses on the ways political detainees’ families are actively shaping and constructing community identities while waiting in the courthouse (<a href="http://thisanthrolife.com/?feed-stats-url=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZmFjZWJvb2suY29tL2V2ZW50cy85OTk5MzM5NTAxMTU2Njgv&feed-stats-url-post-id=1879">Brandeis Anthropology Research Seminar</a>). We also discuss the pedagogical effect the process of waiting has on the families and the role of repetition. Whether you are waiting in line or waiting for our newest TAL episode to download take some time to scroll through our notes!<br> <br> Why Waiting?<br> Serra spent time waiting to talk to lawyers, for the trials, and to talk with families. She noticed that waiting seemed to be a large part of the judicial process. She found that even the courthouse is designed for people to wait in it (i.e. long hallway with a long line of chairs). <br> Outside of the courtroom there is a hallway where families are expected to wait for long periods of time (often decades!) for the trial of their family members. Inside the courtroom there are no chairs and it is designed to make those within it uncomfortable. The trials themselves are often over in 15-30 minutes. <br> Is Waiting Static? A frame of inaction?<br> Short answer is no. Waiting for the trial forces the families to schedule their domestic. work, and political lives around the time they will be waiting. Families and lawyers spend their time actively seeking out judges, lawyers, and other families. They are constructing a community through which they can protest against the state and find hope. <br> The actual process of waiting is a spectacle or a ritual of the state. It is a way for the state to inscribe its power on the people.The families are building these communities within the courtroom to work against the state and state violence. <br> Check out this <a href="http://thisanthrolife.com/?feed-stats-url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5ub21hZGl0LmNvLnVrL2FzYS9hc2EyMDE0L3BhbmVscy5waHA1P1BhbmVsSUQ9MjcxOA%3D%3D&feed-stats-url-post-id=1879">link </a>to learn more about ethnography and waiting<br> Becoming While Waiting<br> Action is part of the endurance of waiting as it makes waiting bearable. The feeling that you cannot act results in either feelings of impotence or cynicism. Serra found that the families felt neither of these.<br> Instead of being inactive, the families were discussing the news and how it might affect their situation. They organized protests against the judges and the court system. The families were becoming political while waiting.<br> The families are exploring the dynamic between the<a href="http://thisanthrolife.com/?feed-stats-url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5iYmMuY29tL25ld3Mvd29ybGQtZXVyb3BlLTIwOTcxMTAw&feed-stats-url-post-id=1879"> PKK and the state</a>. They are acknowledging the presence of this external force on their daily lives and are becoming actors within this process by becoming a protester or a “terrorist”.<br> There is also a pedagogical aspect to waiting in the courtroom with many children of political detainee families wanting to become lawyers. By observing the trials for most of their lives, the families often end up knowing the laws better than some of the lawyers.<br> Check out the links below to learn more about the PKK.<br> <a href="http://thisanthrolife.com/?"></a>
