Turkey's Alevi Enigma: A Comprehensive Overview (Social, Economic and Political Studies of the Middle East and Asia) (Social, Economic and Political Studies of the Middle East and Asia)

This volume discusses how the multifaceted reality of Turkey's Alevis impinges on society and politics in contemporary Turkey. The book provides readers with a vigorous discussion of the origins and history of the Alevis, examines their ethnic identity and cultural representation, as well as appraising their political life and the effect that this had on Turkey's polity, the Turkish Left and the Kurdish National Movement, and upon the emergence of civil society. It analyses Alevi cultural manifestations and even looks at how Alevi diaspora communities in Europe effect Turkey in various ways. The book therefore provides readers with a convenient handbook of an important group that is largely unknown in the West - Turkey's Alevis. Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Contributors Introduction Part One Alevis and Social Research Alevism and the Myths of Research: The Need for a New Research Agenda The Debate on the Identity of ‘Alevi Kurds’ Part Two History of Alevis in Turkey Social Change and Culture: Responses to Modernization in an Alevi Village in Anatolia Part Three Alevis and the State Atatürk and the Alevis: A Holy Alliance? Violation of Human Rights and the Alevis in Turkey Part Four Alevi Renaissance The Past in the Future: Discourses on the Alevis in Contemporary Turkey Zazaname: The Alevi Renaissance, Media and Music in the Nineties Alevism as a Productive Misunderstanding: the Hacıbektaş Festival Alevis, Kurds and Hemşehris: Alevi Kurdish Revival in the Nineties Alevis in Europe: A Narrow Path towards Visibility Part Five Alevis and the Kurdish Movement Alevis, Armenians and Kurds in Unionist-Kemalist Turkey (1908–1938) Kurdish Alevis and the Kurdish Nationalist Movement in the 1990 Part Six Alevis and the Turkish Left Sectarian Violence, the Alevi Minority and the Left: Kahramanmara{ 1978 Index of Keywords Index of Persons Social, Economic and Political Studies of the Middle East and Asia A discussion of how the multifaceted reality of the Alevis impinges on society and politics in contemporary Turkey. It examines the history and origins of the Alevis; their ethnic identity and cultural representation; and their political life and the effect that this had on Turkey's polity.