Islam and Modernity in Turkey: Power, Tradition and Historicity in the European Provinces of the Muslim World

Silverstein, Brian

doi:10.1353/anq.2003.0044

Cited by 27 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…The transformations of an Islamic tradition of discursive practice described here could thus be described as an instance of the “privatization” of Islam in Turkey into a religion on the liberal model (i.e., becoming a private issue having to do with personal preferences). However, because of the genealogy referred to at the outset, this ought to be understood more as a further unfolding of Islamic traditions in continuity with themselves, rather than their abandonment (Silverstein 2003). 52 What is at stake in debates about the use of normative concepts from liberal traditions to study allegedly nonliberal movements like many Muslim ones is not only the nature of Islamic practice; the thrust of an argument about the alternative status of Islamic modes of subjectivity is to propose an alternative model of political action and community that counters the norms of liberal political culture (Asad 1993; Hirschkind 2006; Mahmood 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6 Thus, while the privatization of Islam along liberal lines is not universal or natural, neither is it the case that any Muslim society that is structured this way is necessarily merely dealing with postcolonial legacies or with some degree of alienation from Islamic traditions. Arguments about Islam's allegedly alternative relationship to political modernity need to be nuanced by pointing out that the latter in Turkey is not a legacy of colonialism (in any direct sense), as it is in much of the world, but, rather, has its genealogy in Ottoman reform movements (Mardin 1969; Meeker 2002; Silverstein 2003). It is important to keep this background in mind as we evaluate the status of the transformations in Islamic traditions of discourse and practice in Turkey like the ones described here.…”

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confidence: 99%

“… 5. See also Silverstein 2003. I take up these issues of historicity and commensurability regarding Islam in Turkey in more detail in work currently in progress.…”

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“…It is important to clarify that I am not arguing that every instance of articulation of Islamic and liberal norms and practices around the world is such a contribution to Islamic traditions. That this is the case in Turkey is because of the status of political modernity in the country (see Silverstein 2003). Nor am I suggesting that processes in Turkey could or should be models for other Muslim societies (a suggestion the current government in Turkey also politely refuses, incidentally), for the grounds from which reasoning is undertaken, the status of those undertaking it, and the historicity of regimes of knowledge and power will differ.…”

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DISCIPLINES OF PRESENCE IN MODERN TURKEY: Discourse, Companionship, and the Mass Mediation of Islamic Practice

Silverstein

2008

Cultural Anthropology

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This article examines a contemporary Turkish Sufi order's devotional practice of sohbet—translated here as “companionship in conversation”—to show how characteristically modern practices and techniques have come to take a role in the constitution of dispositions that are central to the viability of Islamic virtues. In the act of oral transmission sohbet cultivates the kinds of relationships considered liable to constitute a morally structured disposition in the practitioner. These relationships are subject to reformulation in the context of the mass mediation of the social environment and use of radio by the order, as practices of discipline based on face‐to‐face interaction articulate with models of liberal citizenship.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

“… 5. See also Silverstein 2003. I take up these issues of historicity and commensurability regarding Islam in Turkey in more detail in work currently in progress.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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DISCIPLINES OF PRESENCE IN MODERN TURKEY: Discourse, Companionship, and the Mass Mediation of Islamic Practice

Silverstein

2008

Cultural Anthropology

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“…12 See, for example, the essays in Mitchell 2000. 13 On the genealogy of institutional reform and its relation to Ottoman and Turkish Islamic traditions see Silverstein 2003. On the culture of the late Ottoman bureaucracy see Findley 1989. 14 See Foucault 1978 andButler 1997 for discussion of these forms and modes.…”

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Islamist Critique in Modern Turkey: Hermeneutics, Tradition, Genealogy

Silverstein

2005

Comp Stud Soc Hist

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What is the status of Islamic traditions of discourse and practice in Turkey as it is ever more self-consciously heir to the Islamic heritage of the Ottoman Empire, and yet has seen such dramatic social, economic, and political transformation during the last two centuries? In recent years a considerable and ever-increasing proportion of scholarly and popular effort has been directed on the part of self-identifying Islamist (İslâmcı) writers in Turkey toward addressing these issues by way of genealogies of contemporary social forms and practices—critical histories of the present. Simultaneously, methodological debates about the nature of sources and interpretation have begun to appear with increasing regularity in monographs, journals, and even dailies. These two concerns with the status of the present and correct method are not solely the concern of Islamist writers in Turkey; indeed, they are arguably the prevailing mode of history and social science writing in Turkey today. As we shall see, informing both of these currents is an interrogation of the grounds from which authoritative, normative discourses on Islamic practice can be elaborated in the wake of empire and sovereign reform on the near-margin of industrial capitalism. At stake are not only discourses, or ‘representations’ of Islamic tradition. Like other traditions, central to Islam is the discursive elaboration of normative judgments about correct practice; indeed, these discursive elaborations are important Islamic practices. The critical work currently flourishing in Turkey is thus conceived by its practitioners as an important form of contribution to the elaboration of Islamic traditions and entails important diagnoses of the status of enabling conditions for Islamic practice in the contemporary world. This article argues that attending to these interrogations indicates how the study of changes in Islamic discourse and practice in Turkey has profound implications for the issues of power and agency in modernity and Islam more broadly. Particularly in the context of Turkey's intensified juridical, economic, and political restructuring in dialogue with the European Community, an understanding of these currents in the Islamic discursive culture of Turkey offers insight into the oft-commented but poorly understood structure of the relationship between Turkey, Europe, and modernity.

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One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: An Analysis of Turkey’s Implementation of the Istanbul Convention in Addressing Gender-Based Domestic Violence

Guney

2022

Towards Gender Equality in Law

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Turkey has had a unique and troublesome relationship with the Istanbul Convention. It was both the first country to ratify the Convention and the first country to withdraw from it after implementing the Convention for six years. This chapter focuses on the legal steps taken by Turkey between its ratification and its withdrawal from the Convention. In this analysis, I argue that, even before its withdrawal, Turkey had been sweeping between two ends: its progressive legal steps to address violence against women on one hand, and its legal and political attitude threatening gender equality in general, on the other. This chapter, therefore, argues that Turkey was already failing to effectively implement the Convention, and its withdrawal from the Convention should only be considered a reflection of Turkish government’s insincerity in its political commitment to address gender-based violence from the outset.

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Islam and Modernity in Turkey: Power, Tradition and Historicity in the European Provinces of the Muslim World

Cited by 27 publications

References 20 publications

DISCIPLINES OF PRESENCE IN MODERN TURKEY: Discourse, Companionship, and the Mass Mediation of Islamic Practice

DISCIPLINES OF PRESENCE IN MODERN TURKEY: Discourse, Companionship, and the Mass Mediation of Islamic Practice

Islamist Critique in Modern Turkey: Hermeneutics, Tradition, Genealogy

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: An Analysis of Turkey’s Implementation of the Istanbul Convention in Addressing Gender-Based Domestic Violence

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