Rethinking Piety and the Veil Under Political Islam: Unveiling Among Turkish Women After 2016

Semiha Topal

doi:10.29333/ajqr/12527

Semiha Topal ¹ ^*

More Detail

AM J QUALITATIVE RES, Volume 6, Issue 3, pp. 99-123

https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/12527

OPEN ACCESS 1565 Views 1431 Downloads

Download Full Text (PDF)

Abstract

This paper covers how the merging of political Islam and the Turkish state led to the monopolization of public Islam and describes how the erasing of diverse meanings underlying Islamic ethical practices has led pious Muslim women to unveil as part of their search for their own subjectivity without falling into the binary of Islamist and secularist political projects. Towards illustrating the search for non-politicized piety, I refer to the narratives of six informants. Their stories reveal that the attempt of cultivating non-politicized piety still takes place within, and in relation to the political upheavals created by the political rule as it shifts into authoritarianism. Contrary to the framing of unveiling as a repudiation of Islamic norms, the cases of unveiling in this study aim to show how acts of unveiling communicate an intricate form of political and religious agency expressed from within an insecure, vulnerable position. More than all, they express the difficulty of establishing and maintaining an Islamic self-cultivation regimen under the shadow of a political symbolism that has been hoisted upon a major tool of this pious self-construction.

Keywords: Muslim women, piety, veiling, unveiling, secularism, Islamism, Turkey.

References

Abenante, P., & Cantini, D. (2014). Life-worlds and religious commitment: Ethnographic perspectives on subjectivity and Islam. La Ricerca Folklorica, 69, 3-19.
Abramowitz, M. J. (2018). Democracy in crisis: Freedom in the world 2018. Freedom House. https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2018
Ahmed, L. (2011). A quiet revolution: The veil’s resurgence, from the Middle East to America. Yale University Press.
Al Jazeera. (2013, October 8). Turkey lifts decades-old ban on headscarves. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/10/turkey-lifts-decades-old-ban-headscarves-201310814177943704.html
Amer, S. (2014). What is veiling? The University of North Carolina Press.
Arat, Y. (2005). Rethinking Islam and liberal democracy: Islamist women in Turkish politics. State University of the New York Press.
Arik, H. (2018). Secular risk governance and the Turkish military’s battle with political Islam, 1980s-2000s. Security Dialogue, 49(4), 306-323.
Associated Press. (2018). A look at Turkey’s post-coup crackdown. https://www.apnews.com/dbb5fa7d8f8c4d0d99f297601c83a164
Aydin, H., & Avincan, K. (2020). Intellectual crimes and serious violation of human rights in Turkey: a narrative inquiry. The International Journal of Human Rights, 24(8), 1127-1155. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2020.1713108
Aydin, H., & Avincan, K. (2021). ‘Am I a terrorist or an educator?’ Turkish asylum seekers narratives on education rights violations after a crackdown following the 2016 failed coup attempt in Turkey. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2021.2017264
Baser, B., & Ozturk, A. E. (2017). Authoritarian politics in Turkey: Elections, resistance, and the AKP. I.B. Tauris.
Batuman, E. (2016, February 8). The head scarf, modern Turkey, and me. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/02/08/cover-story-personal-history-elif-batuman
Bowen, J. R. (2010). Can Islam be French? Pluralism and pragmatism in a secularist state. Princeton University Press.
Butler, J. (2005). Giving an account of oneself. Fordham University Press.
Caman, M. E. (2020). Authoritarianization and human rights in Turkey: How the AKP legitimizes human rights violations. In H. Aydin & W. Langley (Eds.), Human rights in Turkey: Assaults on human dignity (pp. 179-197). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57476-5_9
Cevik, S. (2019). Erdoğan’s comprehensive religious policy: Management of the religious realm in Turkey. SWP Comment no. 12. Stiftung Wissenshaft und Politik, German Institute for International and Security Affairs. https://www.swp-berlin.org/en/publication/erdogans-comprehensive-religious-policy
Cindoglu, D. (2011). Headscarf ban and discrimination: Professional headscarved women in the labor market. Tesev Publications.
Cooke, M. (2008). Deploying the Muslimwoman. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 24(1), 91-99.
Deeb, L. (2006). An enchanted modern: Gender and public piety in Shi’i Lebanon. Princeton University Press.
Demir, V. (2020). Freedom of the Media in Turkey Under the AKP Government. In H. Aydin & W. Langley (Eds.), Human rights in Turkey: Assaults on Human Dignity (pp. 55-88). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57476-5_3
Eltahawy, M. (2015, April 10). My unveiling ceremony. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/11/opinion/mona-eltahawy-my-unveiling-ceremony.html
Elver, H. (2012). The headscarf controversy: Secularism and freedom of religion. Oxford University Press.
Esen, B. (2014). Nation-building, party-strength, and regime consolidation: Kemalism in comparative perspective. Turkish Studies, 15(4), 600-620.
Eum, I. (2000). Discourses on (un)veiling in Egypt. Asian Journal of Women’s Studies, 6,(4), 102-124. https://doi.org/10.1080/12259276.2000.11665895
Fadil, N. (2011). Not-/unveiling as an ethical practice. Feminist Review, 98 ,83-109.
Frisk, S. (2009). Submitting to God: Women and Islam in urban Malaysia. NIAS Press.
Girit, S. (2018, May 10). The young Turks rejecting Islam. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43981745
Gole, N. (1996). The forbidden modern: Civilization and veiling. The University of Michigan Press.
Gumrukcu, S. B. (2021, June 16). The aftermath of the Gezi Park protests: Rising populism and mobilization for autocracy. Jadaliyya. https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/42978
Hamzeh, M. (2013). Pedagogies of deveiling: Muslim girls and the Hijab discourse. IAP.
Head, J. (2010, December 31). Quiet end to Turkey’s college headscarf ban. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11880622
Hirschkind, C. (2006). The ethical soundscape: Cassette sermons and Islamic counterpublics. Columbia University Press.
Kasapoglu, C. (2019, January 20). #10YearChallenge; Turkey puts spotlight on the headscarf. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46933236
Kulsoy, A. (2018, May 6). What is pushing half of Turkey towards deism? Ahval News. https://ahvalnews.com/islam/what-pushing-half-turkey-towards-deism
Kuru, A. (2007). Passive and assertive secularism: Historical conditions, ideological struggles, and state policies toward religion. World Politics, 59(4), 568-594.
Kutuk-Kuris, M. (2021). Moral ambivalence, religious doubt and non-belief among ex-hijabi women in Turkey. Religions, 12, Article 33. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12010033
Lewis, R. (2015a). Muslim fashion: Contemporary style cultures. Duke University Press.
Lewis, R. (2015b). Uncovering modesty: Dejabis and dewigies expanding the parameters of the modest fashion blogosphere. Fashion Theory, 19(2), 243-269.
Mahmood, S. (2005). Politics of piety: The Islamic revival and the feminist subject. Princeton University Press.
Mittermeier, A. (2010). Dreams that matter: Egyptian landscapes of the imagination. University of California Press.
Moors, A., & Tarlo, E. (2013). Introduction. In A. Moors & E. Tarlo (Eds.), Islamic fashion and anti-fashion: New perspectives from Europe and North America (pp. 1-30). Bloomsbury.
Mutawi, H. (n.d.). Necessity removes restriction.” Sunnah Online. Retrieved May 22, 2019. https://sunnahonline.com/library/fiqh-and-sunnah/105-necessity-removes-restriction
Nathalie Rougier (2013). The hijab in the (denominational) Irish education system – tolerated or accepted? Education Inquiry, 4:1, 149-166.
Navaro-Yashin, Y. (2002). Faces of the State: Secularism and public life in Turkey. Princeton University Press.
Ogurlu, U., & Avincan, K. (2020). Right to education: Challenges and issues under the Justice and Development Party Era. In H. Aydin & W. Langley (Eds.), Human rights in Turkey: Assaults on human dignity (pp. 319-337). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57476-5_14
Oktem, K., & Akkoyunlu, K. (2016). Exit from democracy: Illiberal governance in Turkey and beyond. Journal of Southeast European & Black Sea Studies, 16(4), 469-480.
Orucoglu, B. (2015, March 13). Turks, lies, and videotape. Foreign Policy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/03/13/turks-lies-and-videotape-turkey-erdogan/
Ozdalga, E. (1998). The veiling issue, official secularism and popular Islam in modern Turkey. Curzon.
Ozturk, A. E. (2016). Turkey’s Diyanet under AKP rule: From protector to imposer of State ideology? Journal of Southeast European & Black Sea Studies, 16(4), 619-635.
Ozyurek, E. (2006). Nostalgia for the modern: State secularism and everyday politics in Turkey. Duke University Press.
Ozyurek, E. (2015). Being German, becoming Muslim: Race, religion and conversion in the new Europe. Princeton University Press.
Pahl, J. (2019). Fethullah Gulen: A life of Hizmet. Blue Dome Press.
Saktanber, A. (2002). Living Islam: Women, religion and the politicization of culture in Turkey. I.B. Tauris.
Sayan-Cengiz, F. (2016). Beyond headscarf culture in Turkey’s retail sector. Palgrave Macmillan.
Schielke, S. (2010). Second thoughts about the anthropology of Islam, or how to make sense of grand schemes in everyday life. Working Papers 2. Zentrum Moderner Orient. https://www.zmo.de/publikationen/WorkingPapers/schielke_2010.pdf
Tavernise, S. (2008, June 6). Turkey’s high court overturns headscarf rule. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/world/europe/06turkey.html
The Guardian. (2017, February 22). Turkey lifts military ban on Islamic headscarf. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/22/turkey-lifts-military-ban-on-islamic-headscarf
Topal, S. (2012). Everybody wants secularism but which one? Contesting definitions of secularism in contemporary Turkey. International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, 25(1-3), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10767-011-9114-z
Topal, S. (2017). Female Muslim subjectivity in the secular public sphere: Hijab and ritual prayer as ‘technologies of the self’. Social Compass, 64(4), 582–596.
Unal, D. (2015). Vulnerable identities: Pious women columnists’ narratives on Islamic feminism and feminist self-identification in contemporary Turkey. Women’s Studies International Forum, 53, 12-21.
Van Nieuwkerk, K. (2021). ‘Uncovering the self’: Religious doubts, spirituality and unveiling in Egypt. Religions, 12(1), Article 20. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12010020
Vanderlippe, J., & Batur, P. (2013). Blasphemy or critique? Secularists and Islamists in Turkish cartoon images. In C. Gruber & S. Haugbolle (Eds)., Visual culture in the modern Middle East (pp. 215-230). Indiana University Press.
Walton, J. F. (2017). Muslim civil society and the politics of religious freedom in Turkey. Oxford University Press.
Yavuz, M. H. (2013). Toward an Islamic enlightenment: The Gulen Movement. Oxford University Press.
“You Never Get Used to the Things You Cannot Internalize.” (2021). Yalniz Yurumeyeceksin. https://yalnizyurumeyeceksin.com/en/2021/12/30/you-never-get-used-to-the-things-you-cannot-internalize/

Citation

Topal, S. (2022). Rethinking Piety and the Veil Under Political Islam: Unveiling Among Turkish Women After 2016. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 6(3), 99-123. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/12527

Topal, S. (2022). Rethinking Piety and the Veil Under Political Islam: Unveiling Among Turkish Women After 2016. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 6(3), pp. 99-123. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/12527

Topal S. Rethinking Piety and the Veil Under Political Islam: Unveiling Among Turkish Women After 2016. AM J QUALITATIVE RES. 2022;6(3), 99-123. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/12527

Topal, Semiha. "Rethinking Piety and the Veil Under Political Islam: Unveiling Among Turkish Women After 2016". American Journal of Qualitative Research 2022 6 no. 3 (2022): 99-123. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/12527

Topal, Semiha "Rethinking Piety and the Veil Under Political Islam: Unveiling Among Turkish Women After 2016". American Journal of Qualitative Research, vol. 6, no. 3, 2022, pp. 99-123. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/12527

Topal S. Rethinking Piety and the Veil Under Political Islam: Unveiling Among Turkish Women After 2016. AM J QUALITATIVE RES. 2022;6(3):99-123. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/12527