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Imperial memories and neo-liberal genealogies in the Alevi-Bektashi transnational networks

University of British Columbia

This ethnographic research attempts to capture the discursive contradictions and strategic alliances in the recently emerging Alevi-Bektashi transnational networks between Turkey and several Southeast European countries. Tracing the networking endeavours of a major Alevi organization located in Istanbul the research shows how, while lobbying for Alevi rights to faith in Turkey, a major Alevi organization becomes an advocate of Islamic pluralism in its transnational ventures. While the narrative of “love for humanity” underpins both the Alevi and Bektashi stakes on “moderate Islam” in the post-9/11 era, I seek to highlight how this narrative is incorporated by Turkish nationalism on the one hand, and how it travels in the context of Turkish “humanitarian aid” efforts in post-socialist countries on the other. In a post-socialist geography where property relations have been radically transformed in the last two decades, the rhetoric of “owning” Rumeli shrines as Turkish heritage cannot be separated from the prospective claims of their ownership as property. By following these threads, this thesis explores the re-making of Alevi genealogies in transnational processes.

Text

2012-08-30

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/43121

Anthropology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/