Uneasy Neighbors: The Making of Sectarian Difference and Alevi Precarity in Urban Turkey

Gökarıksel, Banu; Secor, Anna J.

Abstract

This study takes a critical perspective on the making of sectarian difference and Alevi precarity in contemporary Turkey. Drawing on our research from 2013 to 2016, we present an analysis of stories and conversations that took place amongst Alevi and Sunni focus group participants, primarily in Istanbul. These conversations illustrate how sectarian difference can be made in the relations between neighbors as differences become coded as sectarian and taken up within systems of power and domination. At the same time, our research also shows how, in the entangled relations between neighbors, questions of ethics and mutual responsibility arise, though these relations sometimes become uneasy or even unbearable. Finally, we show how the question of “knowing” difference is taken up within a power-laden discourse of sectarianism, one that is tied to the history of Alevis (and others) in Turkey while also extending well beyond this context.

Citation

Gökarıksel, B., & Secor, A. J. (2022). Uneasy Neighbors: The Making of Sectarian Difference and Alevi Precarity in Urban Turkey. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 54(2), 243-259. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0020743822000162

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: May 16, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022-05
• Deposit Date: Jun 6, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 6, 2022
• Journal: International Journal of Middle East Studies
• Print ISSN: 0020-7438
• Electronic ISSN: 1471-6380
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 54
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 243-259
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0020743822000162
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1203485