Tethered to a wounded place: A constructivist grounded theory of post-earthquake life in Hatay, Türkiye

Hatay was among the provinces most severely affected by the 6 February 2023 earthquakes, in a context already shaped by borderland politics, sectarianised tensions and long-standing perceptions of state neglect. Reports of delayed rescue and non-transparent reconstruction have compounded these tensions. Yet little is known about how survivors who remain in Hatay experience post-earthquake life as a place-bound process, entangled with historical marginalisation and institutional relations. This study aimed to develop a constructivist grounded theory of post-earthquake life among residents who stayed in Hatay, focusing on how disrupted places, long-term exclusion and institutional practices are woven into everyday routines. We conducted a constructivist grounded theory study with 16 adults who had lived in Hatay both before and after the earthquakes. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were carried out face-to-face exploring changes in everyday life, care and relationships, encounters with state institutions and aid, and feelings about staying or leaving. Data were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using initial, focused and theoretical coding, with constant comparison, memo-writing, team debriefing and reflexive journaling to support interpretive rigour. The analysis also drew on contemporaneous field notes kept across the first post-earthquake year. Post-earthquake life was organised around the core category “tethered to a wounded place”: participants described continuing to live with and as Hatay, a city experienced simultaneously as a source of ongoing harm and as the only imaginable, morally acceptable home. Four interlinked categories elaborated this process: institutional abandonment, discrimination and contested reconstruction; day-to-day survival in suspended futures; re-weaving care and relationships in damaged spaces; and creating hope and politicised resistance. A cross-cutting theme of emotional oscillations described fluctuating movements between grief, numbness, anger, shame, fear, attachment and fragile hope rather than linear recovery, tying mental health closely to the city’s wounded, uncertain condition. Being tethered to a wounded place suggests that post-earthquake distress in Hatay is closely bound up with damaged material environments, historically layered trauma, institutional betrayal and struggles over reconstruction and belonging. Mental health and psychosocial responses in such settings may need to move beyond individualised, symptom-focused models towards place-based, justice-oriented approaches. Not applicable.