Delivered by Intellect to:
Ebru Yetiskin (33364312)
IP: 78.180.112.251
On: Tue, 01 Jul 2025 01:20:48
TA 23 (1) pp. 109–125 Intellect Limited 2025
Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research
Volume 23 Number 1
www.intellectbooks.com 109
© 2025 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. https://doi.org/10.1386/tear_00144_1
Received 13 January 2025; Accepted 25 February 2025; Published Online June 2025
EBRU YETISKIN
Istanbul Technical University
Political ecology imaginaries
and possible futures in
Turkey
ABSTRACT
Although disasters and political ecology problems continue to grow on a global
scale, the states and their stakeholders still make decisions that can escalate risks
and vulnerabilities. Within their populist discourse, they use political ecology
imaginaries, which shape collectively held future visions and regulate desires and
beliefs about values, norms and ways of life. Since imaginaries become an extension
of control, it is critical to explore counter and alternative political ecology imagi-
naries for possible futures especially in disaster-prone countries. This study aims
to explore alternative political ecology imaginaries and possible, future makings
of contemporary artworks. Through the lens of feminist accounts in political ecol-
ogy and science and technology studies (STS), this exploratory research is based
on the qualitative analysis of five purposefully sampled contemporary artworks
from Turkey, a disaster-prone country where political ecology risks and vulner-
abilities are high and the imaginaries of the state and its stakeholders are extremely
authoritative and popularized. Research methodology of the study mainly consists
of a literature review, discourse analysis, field notes and participatory observa-
tion. The findings of the study contribute to disclose the transgressions around
knowledge claims in political ecology studies. Counter and alternative politi-
cal imaginaries of contemporary artistic research generate possible futures for
more-than-human-worlds.
KEYWORDS
imaginaries
control
commoning
futures
artistic research
Turkey