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Invisible Becoming: Masculinity, Piety, and Transformation in Turkey
Abstract
Given the over-visibility of pious Muslim women and the veil in anthropological and sociological studies, the absence of research about men and masculinity in the Muslim world reflects the intertwinement of knowledge production processes with masculinist politics in sanctifying manhood by not questioning it or making it a subject of research. This paper aims to look at the visible and invisible changes the pious men of Turkey have undergone over the last decade, following the empowerment of the neo-Islamic (pro-Sunni) right-wing ruling party, the AKP. The invisible changes refer to the physical transformation men from Islamic groups in positions of power who, in the last two decades, removed the physical indication of their religiosity: they cut their beards, removed their silver wedding rings, and put on suits and ties. In a country where dress code has been an integral part of the country’s modernization project that has been defined primarily through female bodies, such a transformation is not a surprise. It was, after all, the same project that allowed men to avoid being embodied objects of modernization and secularization. By looking closer to the transformation of Islamic men in power, I aim not only to bring forward the invisibility aspect of the everyday lives of pious men, but also to look at the changes surrounding contemporary masculinity and piety in the context of a secular country. How do they make sense of these everyday contestations as they navigate between their visible and invisible selves? This paper delves into the overlapping and sometimes clashing perspectives of masculinity, secularization, identity, religiosity, invisibility, spirituality, and transformation using an anthropological lens. I answer the above question through Islamic terms, as the questions are also asked and discussed through these terms in men’s own groups. Thus, the Islamic ontological perspective is read vis-à-vis ethnographic material, through parallel study of major Islamic texts, ranging from Imam Ghazali to Said Nursî, observing how they interpret and discuss the mentioned link between clothing and edep (Islamic piety manners) in relation to “zahir” (external, physical shell) and batin (internal, spiritual content).
Discipline
Anthropology
Geographic Area
Turkey
Sub Area
None