The phantasm of luck: a precariat's notion of survivance in Istanbul

Journal article

The article draws upon ethnographic research conducted over 18 months (2021-2022) among people who engage in state-regulated games of chance in Istanbul. I examine how they construe their participation in games of chance to unravel the motivations behind their engagement in economically uncertain activities during times of financial and economic crisis. The article offers a nuanced understanding of the human experience related to involvement in games of chance. Rather than focusing solely on the clinical and moral judgments associated with gambling, it presents how the use of games of chance paradoxically serves as a technique to renew the players' hopes to endure the uncertain social, economic, and political realities they face. I observe that my participants are primarily chasing luck, that would bring wealth, and the fleeting moments of amusement promised by games of chance. I suggest conceptualising their technologies of imagination for envisioning a more favourable future (Sneath, Holbraad and Pedersen 2009, Bear 2020) through their pursuit of good fortune and socially embedded play as acts of survivance that defy the annihilation that economic struggles and precarity and continuous work brings and revitalise their presence (Vizenor 2009) to endure instability, precarity, and anxiety of the future.

Authors: Hassan, W

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Anthropological Society of Oxford
• Journal: Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford Online
• Volume: 15
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 69-90
• Publication date: 2023-12-19
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-0zv6yzxq5
• ISSN: 2040-1876
• Language: English
• Keywords: survivance; games of chance; Istanbul; JASO; precariat; luck