Events > Archive > Spring 2008 Lecture Series: "Transforming Secularism, Democracy, and Nationalism in Turkey"
“Muslims, Christians, and Jews: The Ottoman Experience of Peaceful Co-Existence”
A talk by
Ali Bardakoglu
Professor of Theology
President of Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs
This talk will examine
the Ottoman “millet system” and its ability
to let the peaceful co-existence of tens of different cultural, ethnic, and
religious groups in the Ottoman Empire.
Prof. Bardakoglu is the President of
Directorate of Religious Affairs which coordinates 70,000 mosques, in addition
to other religious affairs in Turkey.
Date: Tuesday, April 22
Time: 12:30 – 2:00 pm
Location: International Affairs Building, 802
A reception will follow the talk.
The talk is co-sponsored by the Center for
the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR) and the Institute for
Social and Economic Research and
Policy (ISERP).
For more information: Ahmet Kuru: ak2840@columbia.edu
“Challenges to Transform the Ethnicity Regime in Turkey: Alevi and Kurdish Electoral Behavior and Demands for Recognition, 1946-2007”
A talk by
Sener Aktürk
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science, UC Berkeley
Discussant: Karen Barkey, Columbia University
Professor of Sociology and History
Recent publications by Sener Aktürk include "Continuity and Change in the Regimes of Ethnicity in Austria, Germany, the USSR/Russia, and Turkey: Varieties of Ethnic Regimes and Hypotheses for Change" Nationalities Papers, March 2007, and “Incompatible Visions of Supra-Nationalism: National Identity in Turkey and the European Union,” European Journal of Sociology, Vol. 48, No. 2.
Date: Monday, April 14
Time: 12:30 – 2:00 pm
Location: International Affairs Building, 802
A reception will follow the talk.
The talk is co-sponsored by the Center for
the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR) and the Institute for
Social and Economic Research and
Policy (ISERP).The talk is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR), Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP), and the Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life (IRCPL).
For more information: Ahmet Kuru: ak2840@columbia.edu
“Contesting Democratization
in Turkey: The Gülen Movement, AK Party and their Discnteonts”
A
talk by
Berna Turam
Assistant Professor of Sociology, Hampshire College
Discussant: Alfred Stepan, Columbia University
Wallace S. Sayre Professor of Government, Columbia University
Director, Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion
This talk
is based on the working paper “Contesting Democratization in Turkey: The Gülen
Movement, AK Party and their Discontents.”
Islamist forces have moderated widely through the Middle East. However, the
moderation of Islamic politics has not necessarily been accompanied by parallel
democratization processes in every country. Turkey appears as a distinct case
in this regard, as the transformation of Islamic actors and the Turkish state
have been corresponding and concurrent processes. No matter how fragile and
illiberal, Turkish democracy have had provided basic platforms of interaction
between Islamic forces and the secular state. Through decades of confrontation,
Turkish Islamic actors have learned the skills of “engagement”with
the staunchest secular state of the Muslim world. The engagements range from
negotiation to basic consensus and cooperation between Islam and the state.
The paper reveals and analyzes the emergence of the politics of engagement
by the Gulen movement in the late 1990s and the institutionalization of it
by AK party in the new millennium. I argue that these engagements have transformed
both Islam and the Turkish Republic, and contributed to democratization. However,
the successive victories of the AK party in free and fair elections have also
given rise to a secularist backlash. By highlighting two paradoxical processes,
the moderation of Islamic forces and radicalization of secularist actors, the
study invites a rethinking of contestations over democratization.
Recent publications
by Berna Turam (PhD, McGill University) include Between Islam and the State:
The Politics of Engagement (Stanford University Press, 2007).
“European Union
and the Transformation of Islamic Perspectives in Turkey”
A
talk by
Hasan Kösebalaban
Postdoctoral Scholar, Michigan State University
Discussant: Mona El-Ghobashy,
Professor of Political Science at Barnard College
This talk is based on the
working paper “European Union and the Transformation of Islamic Perspectives in Turkey.”
This paper examines Turkey's membership process to the European Union with
regard to the Islamic movements changing perspectives toward the West.
It analyzes why several Islamic actors recently left their anti-EU attitudes
and became keen supporters of Turkey's
membership to the EU.
Recent publications by Hasan Kosebalaban (PhD, University
of Utah) include "The Rise of Anatolian Cities and the Failure of the Modernization Paradigm" in
Fall 2007 issue of Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies.
Date: Wednesday, March 5
Time: 4.30 - 6.00 pm
Location: International Affairs Building, 802
A reception will follow the talk.
The talk is co-sponsored by the Center
for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR), Institute for Social
and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP), and the Institute for Religion, Culture
and Public Life (IRCPL).
For more information, please contact Ahmet Kuru: ak2840@columbia.edu
“Anthropology of Islamic Authority and Knowledge in Europe: Turkish Islamic Communities in Germany and the Netherlands”
A talk by
Ahmet Yükleyen
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Mississippi
Discussant: Brinkley
Messick
Professor and the Chair of the Department of Anthropology, Columbia University
This
talk is based on the working paper “
Anthropology
of Islamic Authority and Knowledge in Europe: Turkish Islamic Communities in
Germany and the Netherlands
.”
This paper compares three Turkish Islamic communities that represent the spectrum
from moderate to radical Islamic opinions in Europe: a mystical Sufi order
(Süleymanli order), Turkish civil Islam (Gülen community), and a
movement seeking an Islamic revolution in Turkey (Kaplancilar). These groups
produce, follow, and support a particular interpretation of Islam through their
activities and organizational networks composed of associations, federations,
foundations, educational institutions, and mosques in Germany and the Netherlands.
This comparison provides the empirical data for the analytical framework to
examine the development of Islamic authority and interpretations, as well as
providing the trajectory of change concerning the possibilities and constraints
in the development of Islam in Europe. In short, the paper examines the interpretations
of Islam as part of the process
in which the power to define "true" Islamic knowledge is produced
and disseminated among actors that are socially organized and disciplined to
accept the religious message through various media of representation.
Recent
publications by Ahmet Yükleyen (PhD, Boston University) include
a co-authored book in Turkish entitled "Islam, Secularism, and Democracy
in Europe: France, Germany, and the Netherlands” (2006) and "State
Policies and Islam in Europe: Milli Görüs in Germany and the Netherlands," Journal
of Ethnic and Migration Studies (forthcoming).
Date: Monday, February 11
Time: 12.30 – 2.00 pm
Location: International Affairs Building, 801
A reception will follow the talk.
The talk is co-sponsored by the Center
for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR), Institute for Social
and Economic Research and Policy
(ISERP), and the Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life (IRCPL).