Lale’s un/veiling trajectory: shifting contours of pious citizenship in contemporary Turkey
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Lale’s un/veiling trajectory : shifting contours of pious citizenship in contemporary Turkey. / Christensen, Ida Hartmann.
In: Religion, State and Society, Vol. 49, No. 4-5, 2021, p. 386-401.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Lale’s un/veiling trajectory
T2 - shifting contours of pious citizenship in contemporary Turkey
AU - Christensen, Ida Hartmann
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Based on long-term fieldwork among members of the formerly influential Sunni Muslim Hizmet community in Istanbul in 2015, this contribution traces the ‘un/veiling trajectory’ of a woman called Lale, referring to her shifting engagement with the headscarf over a period of almost three decades. Rather than exemplifying a fragmented religiosity, these shifts are understood as articulations of Lale’s aspiration to align her Islamic commitment with the secular boundary for public religiosity, which is defined – and frequently redefined – by the Turkish state. Drawing on the notion of ‘pious citizenship’, Lale’s un/veiling trajectory constitutes the ethnographic ground for unravelling how, in Turkey, the secular boundary for public religiosity has reshaped Islamic ethical practice in three different ways: through state-imposed restrictions, as citizenly self-discipline, and by animating contestation between different religious Muslim groups. The contribution thus argues that Lale’s shifting engagement with the headscarf articulates a mode of Islamic commitment that is intimately, yet uneasily, intertwined with secular discourses, aesthetics, and sensitivities. In so doing, it brings forth an interplay between Islam and secularism that is much more intricate than the image of a binary opposition allows.
AB - Based on long-term fieldwork among members of the formerly influential Sunni Muslim Hizmet community in Istanbul in 2015, this contribution traces the ‘un/veiling trajectory’ of a woman called Lale, referring to her shifting engagement with the headscarf over a period of almost three decades. Rather than exemplifying a fragmented religiosity, these shifts are understood as articulations of Lale’s aspiration to align her Islamic commitment with the secular boundary for public religiosity, which is defined – and frequently redefined – by the Turkish state. Drawing on the notion of ‘pious citizenship’, Lale’s un/veiling trajectory constitutes the ethnographic ground for unravelling how, in Turkey, the secular boundary for public religiosity has reshaped Islamic ethical practice in three different ways: through state-imposed restrictions, as citizenly self-discipline, and by animating contestation between different religious Muslim groups. The contribution thus argues that Lale’s shifting engagement with the headscarf articulates a mode of Islamic commitment that is intimately, yet uneasily, intertwined with secular discourses, aesthetics, and sensitivities. In so doing, it brings forth an interplay between Islam and secularism that is much more intricate than the image of a binary opposition allows.
KW - Faculty of Social Sciences
KW - Islam
KW - citizenship
KW - secularism
KW - un/veiling
KW - Turkey
KW - Hizmet
U2 - 10.1080/09637494.2021.1996179
DO - 10.1080/09637494.2021.1996179
M3 - Journal article
VL - 49
SP - 386
EP - 401
JO - Religion, State and Society
JF - Religion, State and Society
SN - 0963-7494
IS - 4-5
ER -
ID: 272240648