In The Realm Of Heat And Water: Social Lives And Materiality Around Infrastructural

Beginning with the contextualization of a local activity in Adana, namely bathing inthe irrigation canals, this thesis has expanded to investigate social relationships andmateriality around the infrastructural environment in the domain of heat and waterin urban Adana. Tracing agricultural infrastructure’s interventions in topographies,this thesis aims first to locate the conditions that make modern Çukurova(the “fertile lands” in commonsense), then unfolds discussions about nature andcity by positing infrastructural production of the urban environment. Adopting amateriality-based approach, this thesis proposes a study of infrastructures that doesnot focus on technical design and function, but on undesigned prolific engagements.Suggesting an infrastructural environment and emphasizing such an urban topography,it notes, on the one hand, both transgressive and tailored acts (e.g., canalbathingand care work) by focusing on the materiality of forms and relationships;on the other, presents how social lives and materiality around the water environmenthave both affect-laden and gendered facets. This thesis aims to point out theenvironmental justice aspect of heat and water in an urban area and to mark theundesigned relationships with infrastructures.