ABSTRACT
This chapter approaches labor flows and their interrelations with urbanization by focusing on the spatial narratives of grave-caretakers of the Karşıyaka Cemetery of Ankara. The cemetery was established in 1970 and is now functioning fully-fledged as the largest cemetery. Its hills were composed of squatter houses, gecekondus named Şentepe, occupied by ‘urban émigrés’ who were forcibly displaced due to labor flows from rural parts of Anatolia, and some of whom started to work as informal grave-caretakers. The narratives reveal that particular urban spaces have the capacity to influence urban agents as they choose their work, construct networks, and make their place in the city. Grave-caretakers had a minimal choice of work, but they achieved upward mobility. While they gained control of their own labor over time, new urban émigrés appeared, occupying the remaining gecekondus standing near newly built apartments in Şentepe near the cemetery.
