Alevi Cultural Heritage in Turkey and Germany: Negotiating “Useable Pasts” in Transnational Space

The accelerating references to Cultural Heritage in politics and scholarship have impacted on ‘vernacular’ or migrant communities’ aspirations for the recognition of their distinct identities and have likewise influenced nation-states’ policies on cultural diversity. Thus Alevi communities in Turkey and Germany have used the institutions and language provided by intergovernmental actors to claim recognition of their Intangible Cultural Heritage. In 2010, the Alevi-Bektaşi ritual dance, semah, was inscribed onto Turkey’s National Inventory for Intangible Cultural Heritage. However, Alevis in Germany, also drawing on the semah as their “useable past”, recently initiated their own heritage project. This paper analyses the various functions and uses of heritage discourse in the context of its exercise by both state and non-state actors in Germany and Turkey. It will be argued that a critical investigation must question the empowering and disciplining aspects of the governmentalities of Cultural Heritage because, as demonstrated by the Turkish case, recognition of (Alevi) heritage does not necessarily translate into legal recognition

Governmentalities of Alevi Cultural Heritage: On Recognition, Surveillance and "Domesticated Diversity" in Contemporary Turkey

Although the term Cultural Heritage carries a rather positive connotation—bringing together notions such as safe-guarding and human creativity—critical investigations have underlined the various strategic, economic and political rationalities inscribed in this term.In 2010 UNESCO categorized the Alevi ritual sequence, semah, as Intangible Cultural Heritage and as such it was inscribed in the Turkish National Inventory for Intangible Cultural Heritage, although Alevis are oftentimes marginalized by the Turkish state due to its Sunni-Turkist conception of belonging. The celebration of an Alevi ritual as enriching Turkey's "cultural diversity" thus necessitated an analytical approach that comes to terms with the tension between this formal recognition, ongoing political surveillance, and the very specific notions of diversity that have been put into play. With reference to Foucault's (as well as Rose's) analysis of contemporary government as "governmentality", Cultural Heritage can be grasped in its ambivalent (but not necessarily conflicting) form of governmental liberation and control. The paper thus enlarges the analytical scale of thinking about Cultural Heritage in its correlation with identity-formation, as well as the politics of recognition and governance

Alevi Cultural Heritage in Turkey and Germany: Negotiating “Useable Pasts” in Transnational Space

The accelerating references to Cultural Heritage in politics and scholarship have impacted on ‘vernacular’ or migrant communities’ aspirations for the recognition of their distinct identities and have likewise influenced nation-states’ policies on cultural diversity. Thus Alevi communities in Turkey and Germany have used the institutions and language provided by intergovernmental actors to claim recognition of their Intangible Cultural Heritage. In 2010, the Alevi-Bektaşi ritual dance, semah, was inscribed onto Turkey’s National Inventory for Intangible Cultural Heritage. However, Alevis in Germany, also drawing on the semah as their “useable past”, recently initiated their own heritage project. This paper analyses the various functions and uses of heritage discourse in the context of its exercise by both state and non-state actors in Germany and Turkey. It will be argued that a critical investigation must question the empowering and disciplining aspects of the governmentalities of Cultural Heritage because, as demonstrated by the Turkish case, recognition of (Alevi) heritage does not necessarily translate into legal recognition

17. Yüzyılda Zındık ve Günahkarlar: Şikayet Defterlerinden Örnekler

Der Artikel setzt sich mit dem Problem alevitischer Geschichte des 17. Jahrhunderts auseinander. Für diese Periode herrschen weiterhin große Lücken in der Forschung zur alevitischen Geschichte, da weitestgehend davon ausgegangen wird, die Aleviten hätten sich in dieser Zeit im Verborgenen gehalten und jedweden Kontakt zum osmanischen Staat und seinen Organen vermieden. Hier wird ein möglicher Weg vorgeschlagen, dieses Desideratum anzugehen: Anhand von beispielhaften Einträgen aus dem osmanischen Registerbuch der Beschwerden (şikayet defteri) von 1675 zeigen die Autoren, wie die oft wenig detaillierten Einträge philologisch erschlossen werden können, um darüber Anhaltspunkte für die Rekonstruktion alevitischer Sozial- und Religionsgeschichte zu erarbeiten.This article addresses the problem of Alevi history in the 17th century, as this period remains one of the severest lacunae in research on Alevism up until now. It is widely assumed that Alevis had withdrawn from the historical scene during this period, avoiding any contact with the Ottoman state and its local powerbrokers. Based on an Ottoman register of complaints (şikayet defteri) from 1675 the authors propose a philological framework that helps reconstruct Alevi social and religious history through the bits of information provided in such texts.17. yüzyılda Osmanlı Devleti’nde yaşayan Aleviler, genel olarak kendi kültür çevrelerinde yaşamış ve devlet ile irtibat kurmaktan çekinmişlerdir. Bu sebeple Alevi tarihi çalışmalarında bu dönem ile ilgili önemli araştırma eksikliği vardır. Bu makale, bu eksikliğe yönelik yeni bir yaklaşımı teklif etmektedir. 1675 tarihli Osmanlı şikayet defterlerinin birini örneklem alarak söz konusu meseleye ışık tutmak için detaylı filolojik bir yaklaşım uygulanarak Alevilerin sosyal, dinî ve yerleşim tarihinin nasıl araştırılabileceğine dair düşünceler sunulmaktadır