{"title":"“The Narcissism of the Minor Difference” and Religious Violence","authors":"Benoît Fliche","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190845780.003.0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190845780.003.0002","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter discusses the relations between Sunnis and Alevis in Turkey. Of Turkey's two major religious groups, the Alevis and the Sunnis, the Alevis represent a minority corresponding to approximately twenty percent of the population and considered by the Sunnis as heterodox. It is generally recognized that their attitudes concerning food, alcohol, and certain religious practices—like their non-respect of Ramadan—differ from stricter Sunni practices. As such, daily interaction between Sunnis and Alevis is marked by a certain hostility that is expressed primarily through “friction” that helps to maintain the dividing line between them and reinforces fairly strict denominational endogamy. The chapter then describes the violence suffered by Alevis over the past thirty years. Grounding the analysis in the “narcissism of the small difference” and the concept of “identification,” it argues that unless research in this area takes the unconscious into account, its results are doomed to remain somewhat uninterpretable.","PeriodicalId":263502,"journal":{"name":"Identity, Conflict and Politics in Turkey, Iran and Pakistan","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125384088","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Transformation of a Conflict in the Diaspora","authors":"Christine Moliner","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190845780.003.0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190845780.003.0006","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter assesses the role of the political context bringing a transformation of identity rankings in diasporas. Specifically, it studies the role played over the past 15 years by British state policies in the transformation of relationships between two migrant communities originating from South Asia: Sikhs and Muslims. Each community shares antagonistic representations of the other, based on past conflicts, such as the Partition. What they perceive as a hereditary antagonism is not simply imported but transformed in the diaspora by several local variables. Among these, British integration policy toward ethnic minorities is a key factor. While striving since 2005 to foster “community cohesion,” it actually tends to exacerbate the competition between migrant communities related to the allocation of resources, both symbolic and material.","PeriodicalId":263502,"journal":{"name":"Identity, Conflict and Politics in Turkey, Iran and Pakistan","volume":"20 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115935592","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ethnic and Regional Ferment in Iran","authors":"C. Bromberger","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190845780.003.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190845780.003.0004","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter demonstrates how the identity claim is restricted to its cultural dimension. Claims are indeed limited to cultural activism and translate into an editorial and associative fever. Two paths explain the disparities in intensity of demands in ethnic conflicts. The first path takes into account both the specificity and the liveliness of cultural identities: the greater the gap between the ways of being and the attitudes of a given group, and those that are expressed at the core of the nation, the more pronounced such differences will be, the more intense the friction, and the more vehement the claims. The second path suggests an opposite move: rather than starting from groups and their cultural differences, the idea is to start from the state, its very nature and its acceptance of differences. The chapter then considers the situation of minorities in the Iranian state and looks at the case of Gilân, a province of northern Iran.","PeriodicalId":263502,"journal":{"name":"Identity, Conflict and Politics in Turkey, Iran and Pakistan","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131349320","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Quetta City and the Baluch Guerrilla","authors":"L. Bellon","doi":"10.1093/OSO/9780190845780.003.0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780190845780.003.0011","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the incidents linked to Baloch nationalism, highlighting what is at play behind this urban armed struggle, with a special focus on the city of Quetta—the capital city of Balochistan, Pakistan's most underdeveloped province. Since 2000, and for the first time, violent clashes of very different natures coincided in the city: target killings by Baloch nationalists, suicide attacks from militant Islamist groups, assassinations against the Shi'ite (primarily Hazara) community, and a growing non-politically motivated criminality perpetuating a number of murders and kidnappings. The legitimization of some aspects of this violence by a population witnessing but not producing it enables the reconfiguration of social relationships and/or spaces in the urban context. In particular, the chapter argues that violence, far from bringing about a rejection and delegitimization of groups using it, can on the contrary redefine the relationship between social groups, leading in particular to the marginalization of the groups it targets.","PeriodicalId":263502,"journal":{"name":"Identity, Conflict and Politics in Turkey, Iran and Pakistan","volume":"239 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133927622","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Violence and War in the Middle East in the 1980s","authors":"Hamit Bozarslan","doi":"10.1093/OSO/9780190845780.003.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780190845780.003.0008","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter discusses how important historical breaks are in the transformation of the identity categories that are relevant for mobilizations. In particular, year 1979 is a break-year in the history of the Middle East and opens a new historical cycle. However, the Camp David Accords and the occupation of Afghanistan are perceived as “treason” by the Arab nationalist left and the internationalist left respectively. Meanwhile, the Iranian Revolution and the Ka'aba occupation by Islamist activists signal the move from the leftist “revolutionary idea” to Islamism that had until then been omitted because it was considered a “servant of imperialism.” Even if these four events—with their own historicity—have no causality links, their contemporaries, through their understanding and subjectivities, put the events in relation. They give the events a new meaning; they transform the events into new markers of new “political realities.”","PeriodicalId":263502,"journal":{"name":"Identity, Conflict and Politics in Turkey, Iran and Pakistan","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114209846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Instrumentalization of Ethnic Conflict by the State","authors":"Chirine Mohséni","doi":"10.1093/OSO/9780190845780.003.0013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780190845780.003.0013","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter examines the ethnic tensions between Kurds and Azeris in and around the city of Naqadeh in Western Azerbaijan shortly after the Iranian Revolution. Favored by the Iranian state, the Azeris held dominant social and political positions in comparison to the Kurds, adding to the tensions between these populations. The shift to violence is the result of several elements: first, the collapse of the old regime brought into question the hitherto legitimate ethnic hierarchy. Being Shi'ite became a key element in the relationship with the state and Sunni Kurds were marginalized. Second, Kurdish political demands were a source of concern for the region's Azeri population. Finally, the new government, freshly installed, had yet to establish its authority over Kurdish areas. Ethnic violence among different groups only served to justify government intervention and strengthen state influence.","PeriodicalId":263502,"journal":{"name":"Identity, Conflict and Politics in Turkey, Iran and Pakistan","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123752728","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Hierarchy","authors":"Clémence Scalbert-Yücel","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190845780.003.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190845780.003.0003","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter examines the production of identity by the media. Grounding the analysis on how private Turkish television channels deal with the Kurdish population and “problem,” it shows how ethnic categories are used to legitimize, explain, or deny cultural difference, thereby conditioning political practices and public perceptions. This has contributed to creating a double discourse that consolidated during the next decade: the new rhetoric of “cultural diversity” coexists with the older one on the Kurdish issue, defined as a development or civilization issue. The coexistence of these two discourses shows the relative value of identities and their ranking. The chapter then explores the hypothesis according to which, recognizing cultural diversity in Turkey—and in particular the existence of Kurds—triggers a change in the definition of the conflict and in the political practices at a certain level while, at another level, allowing to confirm old categories founding the ethnic hierarchies.","PeriodicalId":263502,"journal":{"name":"Identity, Conflict and Politics in Turkey, Iran and Pakistan","volume":"206 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116042799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Self-Radicalisation of a Young Indian Jihadist in Great Britain","authors":"Aminah Mohammad-Arif","doi":"10.1093/OSO/9780190845780.003.0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780190845780.003.0009","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter looks at a case of transition to violence by self-mobilization (outside militant structures) through an exacerbation of identity and difference. Specifically, it examines the trajectory of a young Indian jihadist who, together with an accomplice, planted bombs in London 2007 and then tried to ram Glasgow airport with a car. The sources are exceptional: the author interviewed the jihadist before the events, which offers a unique perspective. The varying differences in scale at work are symptomatic of a transformation in conflicts of differentiation. The chapter then describes how one goes from a “banal” identity differentiation—an expatriate becoming aware of his or her status as Muslim in a non-Muslim land—to the stage where the feeling of difference appears insurmountable, with violence its only discernible expression.","PeriodicalId":263502,"journal":{"name":"Identity, Conflict and Politics in Turkey, Iran and Pakistan","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121344599","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Conflicting Emotions","authors":"A. Blom","doi":"10.1093/OSO/9780190845780.003.0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780190845780.003.0010","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter focuses on the riot that took place in Lahore, Pakistan following the publication of the “Danish cartoons” on February 14, 2006. It shows the importance of emotions in the transition to violence by focusing on three levels of observation. At the micro (individual) level, one must articulate certain types of emotions to moral sentiments and specific frameworks of perception. At the meso level (the riotous crowd), the “emotional work” of the entrepreneurs of mobilization failed to stem the micro-conflicts that were playing in the crowd, and these entrepreneurs are to be seen in the wider context of everyday urban violence. Finally, at the macro level (the political system), the chapter highlights the need for a renewed interest in an aspect often neglected in studies on the impact dimension of social movements, namely the politics of emotions produced by the state.","PeriodicalId":263502,"journal":{"name":"Identity, Conflict and Politics in Turkey, Iran and Pakistan","volume":"117 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133558292","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Origins of the Protest Movement Against Ethnic Hierarchy","authors":"Gilles Riaux","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190845780.003.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190845780.003.0007","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter looks at the central role of entrepreneurs of mobilization. The study of different routes taken by entrepreneurs of the Azerbaijani cause has proven helpful when attempting to understand the genesis of the cause. These actors play a crucial role in the initiation and development of the movement, restructuring it throughout the revolutionary period and working toward the subversion of ethnic ranking. Indeed, resource mobilization highlights the decisive role played by intellectual figures from the educated middle classes. Based on their cultural and social capital, these entrepreneurs have specific resources that give them the ability to carry out a redefinition and enhancement of “turkishness” in its Azerbaijani specificity. The chapter then points out that Azeri elites with significant cultural capital tend to be integrated in the political system, whereas those with more “local” capital have been involved in setting up the Azeri rights movement.","PeriodicalId":263502,"journal":{"name":"Identity, Conflict and Politics in Turkey, Iran and Pakistan","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133673331","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}