Moral ambivalence, religious doubt and non-belief among ex-hijabi women in Turkey
Religions, cilt.12, sa.1, ss.1-23, 2021 (AHCI, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 12 Sayı: 1
- Basım Tarihi: 2021
- Doi Numarası: 10.3390/rel12010033
- Dergi Adı: Religions
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, ATLA Religion Database, Index Islamicus, Directory of Open Access Journals
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-23
- Anahtar Kelimeler: (un)veiling, Islam, Moral ambivalence, Non-belief, Religious doubt, Turkey
- Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Adresli: Hayır
Özet
This article investigates religious transformations in contemporary Turkey through the case of women’s unveiling. Drawing on 10 in-depth interviews with university-educated urban women who have recently stopped wearing the veil, the article examines their experiences and their motivations for unveiling. It asks to what extent and in what ways Muslim women’s decisions to unveil are a reaction against the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) shift towards electoral authoritarianism and Islamic conservatism. Some practicing Muslims, particularly youth, have withdrawn their support from the government because of its political authoritarianism and its abandonment of Islamic ideals relating to justice. Since the 2013 Gezi Park protests, the AKP has come under critical scrutiny, both economically (e.g., increasing youth unemployment rates, widening income inequality, the shrinking middle class, clientelism) and sociopolitically (e.g., gendered social welfare policies, pro-natalist campaigns, the discourse on creating a pious generation). However, although the current political atmosphere plays a significant role in women’s unveiling, the article also discusses women’s personal and theological motives. The article elaborates on how ex-hijabi women contest both Islamist politics and Islamic orthodoxy regarding female religiosity and how these women reinterpret dominant gender norms.