Writing Religion: The Making of Turkish Alevi Islam

Markus Dressler

ISBN 10: 0190234091 / ISBN 13: 9780190234096

Published by Oxford University Press Inc, 2015

About this Item

Markus Dressler tells the story of how a number of marginalized socioreligious communities, traditionally and derogatorily referred to as Kizilbas ("Redhead"), captured the attention of the late Ottoman and early Republican Turkish nationalists and were gradually integrated into the newly formulated identity of secular Turkish nationalists. Series: AAR Reflection and Theory in the Study of Religion Series. Num Pages: 346 pages, 2 illus. BIC Classification: 1DVT; HRH. Category: (UP) Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly; (UU) Undergraduate. Dimension: 236 x 158 x 23. Weight in Grams: 504. . 2015. 1st Edition. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780190234096

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Writing Religion: The Making of Turkish Alevi Islam
• Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
• Publication Date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0190234091
• ISBN 13: 9780190234096
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

In the late 1980s, the Alevis, at that time thought to be largely assimilated into the secular Turkish mainstream, began to assert their difference as they never had before. The question of Alevism's origins and its relation to Islam and to Turkish culture became a highly contested issue. According to the dominant understanding, Alevism is part of the Islamic tradition, although located on its margins. It is further assumed that Alevism is intrinsically related to Anatolian and Turkish culture, carrying an ancient Turkish heritage, leading back into pre-Islamic Central Asian Turkish pasts.

Dressler argues that this knowledge about the Alevis-their demarcation as "heterodox" but Muslim and their status as carriers of Turkish culture-is in fact of rather recent origins. It was formulated within the complex historical dynamics of the late Ottoman Empire and the first years of the Turkish Republic in the context of Turkish nation-building and its goal of ethno-religious homogeneity.

About the Author

Markus Dressler has published widely on modern Alevism and secularism. His research focuses on the sociology and politics of Islam in Turkey, nationalist Turkish historiography, and Sufism in the West with special attention to the work of concepts in the study of religion and Islam. He is the editor, with Arvind Mandair, of Secularism and Religion-Making.