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Commodifying culture through representation: an analysis of the intertwined discourses on Mardin’s urban space

ABSTRACT This paper attempts to analyze two intertwined discourses on Mardin’s urban space that commodify its culture by representing it as an ideal place of living together. First is the official discourse which constructs an image for Mardin as a city of tolerance and belief, and second is the demotic discourse of the Mardinites which appropriates and contests this image. By describing these discourses, the paper intends to indicate the hiatus between the reality of Mardin’s locality and its representation. The paper argues that the discourses commodify Mardin’s cultural traits and strengthen local power relations by reproducing its urban space.