PoligrafiPub Date : 2021-12-29DOI: 10.35469/poligrafi.2021.288
Anna Maria Beylunioğlu, Özgür Kaymak
{"title":"The Perception of Minorities toward the Turkish State: The Case of Ethno-religious Communities","authors":"Anna Maria Beylunioğlu, Özgür Kaymak","doi":"10.35469/poligrafi.2021.288","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35469/poligrafi.2021.288","url":null,"abstract":"The relationship between state and non-Muslim communities has been a delicate issue since the founding of the Turkish Republic despite the principle of secularism stated in its constitution. Against this background, the association of national identity with Sunni-Islam has been the main marker of inclusion/exclusion to the national identity. Especially since 2002 when the Justice and Development Party (JDP) came to power, the debates with regard to freedom of religion and the rights of religious minorities came to fore. Over the course of decades there have been numerous studies approaching the state’s perspective towards religious minorities. However, there are still scarce amount of academic studies that focuses on citizenship experiences of the members of these communities in their daily and social life practices. In this article, we first provide a historical perspective of the state towards religious minorities from the establishment of the Republic until today including the JDP period. In the second part of this study we aim to explore recasting perspectives of the non-Muslim minorities over the previous decade by taking the standpoint of the members of Greek Orthodox, Jews and Armenian communities. To this end, we conduct in-depth interviews with the members of these communities who are residing in Istanbul. Finally, new negotiation fields which have been flourishing among these communities will be addressed.","PeriodicalId":36657,"journal":{"name":"Poligrafi","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89753269","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}
PoligrafiPub Date : 2021-12-29DOI: 10.35469/poligrafi.2021.299
Nadja Furlan Štante
{"title":"Ecofeminist Theology of Interdependence. A Constructive Theological Approach to Contemporary Environmental (in)Justice and Vulnerability","authors":"Nadja Furlan Štante","doi":"10.35469/poligrafi.2021.299","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35469/poligrafi.2021.299","url":null,"abstract":"This article addresses the issue of social and environmental (in)justice through the lens of Christian ecofeminism and its ethic of interconnectedness and ecological responsibility for all of creation. Because ecofeminism connects the exploitation of women with the exploitation of creation (nature), I use the central research methodology of Christian ecofeminist hermeneutics to formulate a central research question: first, an analysis of Christian ecofeminism’s position on social and ecological (in)justice, then an analysis of the positive implications for Christian theology and for the pursuit of social and ecological justice.\u0000Although climate change disproportionately impacts female populations, in particular the reproductive health of poorer women, women are often excluded from environmental decision-making processes. Women around the world are already more affected by polluted air, limited access to clean water, and increased exposure to toxic chemicals, and climate change exacerbates these threats. Sensitivity to the impacts of climate change also provides women with a unique experiential knowledge that they can use to make an important contribution to efforts to increase climate resilience and sustainability, as well as to improve awareness and attitudes toward environmental issues and nature in the world’s religions. For ecofeminists, the environmental crisis is a reality, a threat, and a warning to modern humanity. Climate change, global warming, loss of biodiversity and other processes that are supposedly the result of pollution and long-term overuse and exploitation of natural resources are certainly a reflection and consequence of man’s global consumer-imperialist attitude towards nature.","PeriodicalId":36657,"journal":{"name":"Poligrafi","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80265703","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}
PoligrafiPub Date : 2021-12-29DOI: 10.35469/poligrafi.2021.302
M. Tercelj
{"title":"Indigenous Cosmologies in Light of New Epistemological and Political Trends of the Global South","authors":"M. Tercelj","doi":"10.35469/poligrafi.2021.302","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35469/poligrafi.2021.302","url":null,"abstract":"The essential difference between indigenous religions and world religions is in the understanding of the “man-Nature” relationship. While the former perceive man as an equal actor in the establishment of cosmic harmony, placing him alongside all other living and non-living beings of creation, the latter place him in the centre of the world. The Christian religious tradition on the one side, and the Cartesian ontological dualism and methodological empiricism on the other, have strongly influenced the development of Western scientific thought. Over the past decades, the social sciences and humanities have made a great step forward: contributing to new interpretations of global economic and social laws, as well as of the hybridisation of ethnic identities, and starting to cooperate more closely with empirical sciences. The problem arises when self-indulgent introspection disqualifies any other type of knowledge as “non-scientific,” “local,” “romantic,” imperfect. At the beginning of the 21st century, the indigenous cosmology entered the political discourse and ideology of numerous social movements of the Global South. Based on a comparative analysis of three concrete indigenous cosmological and religious models (man vs. Nature relationship), this article seeks to draw attention to the need for a pluralism of mental concepts and social practices.","PeriodicalId":36657,"journal":{"name":"Poligrafi","volume":"68 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84105516","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}
PoligrafiPub Date : 2021-12-29DOI: 10.35469/poligrafi.2021.276
Ulaş Sunata
{"title":"The Construction of Turkey’s Circassians as a Docile Minority","authors":"Ulaş Sunata","doi":"10.35469/poligrafi.2021.276","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35469/poligrafi.2021.276","url":null,"abstract":"The 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games revived memories related to the Circassians’ forced migration from their Caucasus homeland into the Ottoman Empire after 150 years. In that year, I conducted a considerable oral history project to understand the collective memories of Circassians in Turkey. The main focus of this study is, however, the social construction of the Circassian minority in Turkey. I examine their oral historical narratives related to their immigration, reception and resettlement, and instrumentalization. It is as important to place emphasis on the protected, multiplied and renewed sociocultural values of Circassians as it is to confront the history. I will examine the relationship between their diasporic identity and minority identity as well as their preferences in identity reproduction.","PeriodicalId":36657,"journal":{"name":"Poligrafi","volume":"88 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82090176","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}
PoligrafiPub Date : 2021-12-29DOI: 10.35469/poligrafi.2021.279
Mettursun Beydulla
{"title":"Struggles and Dilemmas of Uyghur Immigrants in Turkey","authors":"Mettursun Beydulla","doi":"10.35469/poligrafi.2021.279","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35469/poligrafi.2021.279","url":null,"abstract":"The social and economic integration of the Uyghurs into Turkish society reflects a problem to which policy makers have not yet found a response. Marginalized by the larger society and separated by linguistic differences and cultural and social life-styles, a significant proportion of Uyghurs, especially “newcomers” who have arrived since the 1980s, is in danger of becoming part of a “parallel society.” This is reinforced by exclusion, inferiorization and “otherness,” restricted educational achievements, uncertain citizenship, legal status limbo and low socioeconomic status. Pro-Uyghur, pro-independence and anti-Chinese government mobilization in Turkey has attracted the attention of Chinese authorities for a long time, and this attention has in turn affected and shaped mobilization in Turkey. The Turkey-China relationship is involved as well. The main goals of Chinese policy and strategy in Turkey are the security of “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region” (a.k.a. East Turkistan), access to natural resources, security of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and economic and technological investment. It means that China believes it must consolidate its control of “Xinjiang” (East Turkistan) and restrain the Uyghur independence movement in Turkey. China’s economic and technological power and investments in Turkey are not just increasing its influence; they are making Turkey far more reticent to speak out about Beijing’s abuses, systematic oppression and atrocities in the “Xinjiang” (East Turkistan). China’s geo-economic strategy has resulted in political influence in Turkey that profoundly affects its Uyghur population.","PeriodicalId":36657,"journal":{"name":"Poligrafi","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82384309","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}
PoligrafiPub Date : 2021-12-29DOI: 10.35469/poligrafi.2021.274
Gökçe Balaban
{"title":"Ontological (In)Security and the Kurdish Issue in Turkey: The Use of Security Discourse (1925‒1984)","authors":"Gökçe Balaban","doi":"10.35469/poligrafi.2021.274","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35469/poligrafi.2021.274","url":null,"abstract":"How could one account for the discourse of security used by the Turkish state considering the Kurdish issue before 1984, when the terrorist attacks of the Partiya Karkaren Kurdistani (PKK) had not yet started, and hence there was no physical security threat against the state? This article aims to answer this question from the perspective of ontological (in)security. Based on Critical Discourse Analysis of state discourse, the article argues that the political, social and cultural traits of Kurdish identity created uncertainty in the Turkish self after the Sheikh Said rebellion in 1925. Tribal/religious structures that were influential among Kurds and the expression of Kurdishness as a distinct identity disrupted the autobiographical narratives about Turkishness, hence generating ontological insecurity for the Turkish state. To overcome this problem, the state relied on security discourse and securitized the traits of Kurdish identity, by which it felt threatened. As a result of this securitization, the state was able to legitimize the extraordinary measures taken against Kurds, such as forced resettlements. Securitization, in this sense, regenerated ontological security for the state, because the extraordinary measures served to suppress the Kurdish identity that threatened the certainty and continuity of the Turkish self.","PeriodicalId":36657,"journal":{"name":"Poligrafi","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81520024","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}
PoligrafiPub Date : 2020-12-23DOI: 10.35469/poligrafi.2020.228
Amar Ahmed
{"title":"Consuming Eid Al-Adha: Constructing and Expressing the Muslim Identity","authors":"Amar Ahmed","doi":"10.35469/poligrafi.2020.228","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35469/poligrafi.2020.228","url":null,"abstract":"There is a lacuna in ethnographic research with regards to Muslims’ identity construction and expression from an internal perspective. Eid Al-Adha is an Islamic holiday which is rich in symbolism, collective rituals, and spiritual and material abundance. The article will interpret the meanings and values that consumers of Eid Al-Adha construct as parts of their identity, mainly being the religious one. It will discuss how the holiday expresses significant Muslim values like collectivism, submission to God, sacrifice, charity, patience, and sacredness. Moreover, it will explain possible differences in consumption reflecting particularism due to national and/or cultural identities. The paper furthers our understanding of what Muslims do and say during their consumption of the Day rather than referring to scriptures or scholars. It contributes to the body of knowledge of Muslim holidays, the meanings associated with them, and how celebrators utilize the symbolism within them to construct their identities.","PeriodicalId":36657,"journal":{"name":"Poligrafi","volume":"03 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88175732","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}
PoligrafiPub Date : 2020-12-23DOI: 10.35469/poligrafi.2020.264
Maja Bjelica
{"title":"Review of Carool Kersten, Contemporary Thought in the Muslim World: Trends, Themes, and Issues","authors":"Maja Bjelica","doi":"10.35469/poligrafi.2020.264","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35469/poligrafi.2020.264","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":36657,"journal":{"name":"Poligrafi","volume":"50 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75359510","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}
PoligrafiPub Date : 2020-12-23DOI: 10.35469/poligrafi.2020.226
A. Ashdown
{"title":"An Exploration of the Christian-Muslim Landscape in Modern Syria and the Contribution of Eastern Christian Thought to Interreligious Dynamics","authors":"A. Ashdown","doi":"10.35469/poligrafi.2020.226","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35469/poligrafi.2020.226","url":null,"abstract":"This paper considers Christian-Muslim relations in modern Syria and the importance that eastern Christian thought can make to the interreligious context within the Middle East. It briefly describes the diverse historical and contemporary Christian and Muslim religious landscapes that have cohabited and interacted within the country and the cultural, religious, and political issues that have impacted the interreligious dynamic. Based on fieldwork undertaken in government-held areas during the Syrian conflict, combined with critical historical and Christian theological reflection, the article contributes to understanding Syria’s diverse religious landscape and the multi-layered expressions of Christian-Muslim relations, in a way that has not been previously attempted. Providing insights into interreligious praxis prior to the conflict and in its midst, the article contributes to an understanding of the effect of conflict on interreligious relationships. The article considers the unique contribution of eastern Christianity to the Christian-Muslim dynamic and concludes that the significance of the theology and spirituality of the ‘Antiochene’ paradigm has been under-recognised in western discourse and that, having coexisted within the cultural environment of Islam, it is uniquely placed to play a major role in Christian-Muslim dialogue and the reframing of Islam’s engagement with modern society.This article contributes therefore to knowledge and understanding of the changing Christian-Muslim dynamic in Syria and the neighbouring region; a new understanding of the religious landscape; and a door to exploring how eastern Christian approaches to Christian-Muslim relations may be sustained and strengthened in the face of the considerable religious and political challenges faced by both communities today.","PeriodicalId":36657,"journal":{"name":"Poligrafi","volume":"41 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76147870","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}
PoligrafiPub Date : 2020-12-23DOI: 10.35469/poligrafi.2020.237
M. Saeedimehr
{"title":"Islamic Mysticism and Interreligious Dialogue","authors":"M. Saeedimehr","doi":"10.35469/poligrafi.2020.237","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35469/poligrafi.2020.237","url":null,"abstract":"My aim in this paper is to investigate Islamic Mysticism and find out how and to what extent mystical views can build good grounds for a productive and fruitful interreligious dialogue. First, I provide a brief clarification of what I mean by the notions of ‘interreligious dialogue’ and ‘Islamic mysticism.’ Then, I explain three mystical principles as three bases for the promotion of interreligious dialogue. These are the metaphysico-theological principle of ‘the unity of existence’ (waḥdat al-wujūd), the anthropological thesis of fitra (primordial nature), and the hermeneutic method for interpreting the Qur’an. Finally, I explore the implications of these principles for interreligious dialogue and discuss the role of mystical teachings in promoting interreligious dialogue in two different, though interrelated, areas: doxastic and moral.","PeriodicalId":36657,"journal":{"name":"Poligrafi","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86448707","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}