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Sacred Museums of the Secular State: The Competitive Sharing of the Haci Bektash Museum
Abstract by Dr. Aykan Erdemir
Coauthors: Tugba Tanyeri Erdemir
On Session 116  (AME-New Directions in the Anthropology of Turkey)

On Saturday, December 3 at 8:30 am

2011 Annual Meeting

Abstract
Sacred sites administered as museums by the Turkish state present a significant challenge both for museum officials of the "secular" Turkish Republic and for members of religious communities who carry out devotional practices at such sites. While official rules and regulations of "sacred museums" restrict religious practices to the discontent of practicing citizens, demands and pressures of pious visitors challenge the authority and judgment of museum staff on a daily basis. Sacred museums, therefore, emerge as the loci of competition and contestation not only between officials and citizens but also among citizens of different religious and political backgrounds. The conflict in Turkey becomes particularly visible and acute in the Haci Bektash Museum (Nev?ehir) where officials regulate the devotional use of the Sunni mosque and the Alevi worship hall in starkly contrasting ways. The differential treatment and "toleration" of different religious communities by the Turkish state, and the Alevi mobilization and campaign for the right to control and utilize the site, systematically bring this sacred museum into contemporary debates on religion, pluralism and secularism. Based on a decade-long study of the site between 2000 and 2010, this paper aims to present a thick-description of the encounter in and around the Haci Bektash Museum by the various sides of the conflict. The details of these everyday encounters have the potential to shed light on the hidden Sunni logic of the "secular" in the Turkish context.
Discipline
Anthropology
Geographic Area
Turkey
Sub Area
Cultural Studies