Secrets and revelations: an ethnographic study of the Nusayri community in the Karaduvar district of Mersin

Download

index.pdf

Date

2010

Author

Erdem, Muharrem

Metadata

Show full item record

Item Usage Stats

310
views

172
downloads

The main aim of this thesis is to present an ethnographic study of the Nusayri community in the Karaduvar district of Mersin to examine how it negotiates maintaining religious teachings and practices secret in the process of interacting with other communities and reproducing Nusayri belief. In addition to ethnographic field research in Karaduvar, two virtual communities that Nusayris frequent were studied to examine the negotiations on the revelation of Nusayri esoteric knowledge and secret ritual practices. The ethnographic data were collected during two months of fieldwork in Karaduvar and twelve months of online study of two virtual communities. Research findings show that although the intentional concealing of Nusayri religious knowledge and ritual practices have historically played an important role in the survival of the Nusayri community and belief, partial revelation of secrets are becoming more common and acceptable. Both the internal dynamics of the Nusayri community and the socio-political context in Turkey have contributed to this process. The result of the continuous negotiations among Nusayri sheikhs and followers is that while social secrecy is increasingly revealed, esoteric secrecy is maintained to a large extent. The dosclosure of secrecy is particularly supported by younger generations, university graduates, Nusayri intelligentsia, and those Nusayris who live outside of their hometown.

Subject Keywords

Religious thought.

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12612501/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/20144

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis

Suggestions

OpenMETU
Core

The Domination of the Tablighi Jamaat in the Semi-Competitive Religious Market in Kyrgyzstan: A Religious Market Approach Bozbey, İzzet Ahmet; Aydıngün, Ayşegül; Department of Area Studies (2023-2-13) This thesis examines the factors contributing to the Tablighi Jamaat’s strong presence and influence in the post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan from the point of view of religious economies approach. The historically and politically unique position of Kyrgyzstan among other Central Asian Republics alongside the Tablighi Jamaat’s itinerary modus operandi that sets it apart from competing Islamic organizations and movements will be discussed as possible factors.
Associations of religious identification, secular identification, perceived discrimination, and political trust with ethnic and societal (national) identification. Çoymak, Ahmet; Sakallı Uğurlu, Nuray; Department of Psychology (2009) The current thesis extends research in the area of multiple social identities and identity conflict by focusing on both intergroup and intraindividual process underlying structures of identities, namely, religious, ethnic, and societal (national) identifications. In addition, it examined the influence of political trust, and perceived discrimination the relationship between ethnic and societal identification for disadvantaged ethnic groups in Turkey. Two studies were conducted to evaluate the process of ide...
The Investigation of attitudes toward the solution of Kurdish question in terms of basic human values Avcı, Nazan; Cingöz Ulu, Banu; Department of Psychology (2014) The aim of the current thesis was to investigate attitudes toward the solution of Kurdish question and to explore the role of basic human values in these attitudes. Since 2009, Turkish government initiated projects to solve the Kurdish question with peaceful means; these projects included reforms about minority rights and negotiations with the Kurdish guerillas. Under these transforming circumstances, attitudes toward the solution of Kurdish question were studied within the frameworks of basic human values ...
Veiled Islam : a deconstructive Sufi formation Avanoğlu, Ayşe Serap; Topal, Çağatay; Department of Social Anthropology (2012) This thesis describes and analyzes the practice of Sufism in a contemporary setting in Ankara from the insider point of view. The research deals critically with various approaches to Sufism in the field of anthropology, and introduces the Sufi scene in Turkey. The subject of the study is a Sufi formation which eludes categories in the field of Sufism, presenting close master/disciple relationships instead of institutional structures and normativity, and avoiding dichotomies such as modern/traditional, sacre...
The role of social identity and collective memory in predicting in-group bias and collective action in Turkey‟s alevis Bükün, Mehmet Fatih; Cingöz Ulu, Banu; Department of Psychology (2014) The aim of this thesis is to examine the relationship between social identity, collective action participation and in-group bias in the Alevi community in Anatolia. In doing this, the mediatory role of collective memory is also investigated. In examining collective memory, one positive event and one negative event that Alevis had lived through in the past were selected (Namely, the re-opening of Haji Bektash Veli Dervish Lodge in 1964 which was closed in 1925 was chosen as the positive event and Madımak Mas...

Citation Formats

M. Erdem, “Secrets and revelations: an ethnographic study of the Nusayri community in the Karaduvar district of Mersin,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2010.