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A Contextualisation of Shared Pilgrimage in Ephesus Tilburg University Ambiguous Spaces Sparks, R.L. Publication date: 2011 Link to publication in Tilburg University Research Portal Citation for published version (APA): Sparks, R. L. (2011). Ambiguous Spaces: A contextualisation of shared pilgrimage in Ephesus. [s.n.]. 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Download date: 24. sep. 2021 Ambiguous Spaces A Contextualisation of Shared Pilgrimage in Ephesus Ambiguous Spaces A Contextualisation of Shared Pilgrimage in Ephesus Robert Logan Sparks Proefschriftterverkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Tilburg, opgezag van de rector magnificus, Prof. Phillip Eijlander, in het openbaarteverdedigen ten overstaan van een door het college voorpromotiesaangewezencommissie in de aula van de Universiteit op 16 December, 2011 om 12:15 uur door Robert Logan Sparks geboren op 21 September 1979, te Gadsden, Alabama, V.S. Promotor::Professor P.G.J. Post Copromotores:Professor H.L. Beck, Professor W.E.A. Van Beek Overigeleden van de Promotiecommissie: Professor Jan Blommaert Professor Maria Couroucli Professor Wilfried Van Damme Professor Peter Jan Margry Professor AlbertinaVan Nugteren Copyright © 2011, Robert Logan Sparks ISBN Image Index Cover. Offerings left on the wall of petitions, House of the Virgin Mary. P1. Small offering left outside the shrine of Shehabuddin Sivasi, buried near the remains of ancient Ephesus. P53. House of the Virgin Mary, Nightingale Hill, Ephesus/ Selçuk. P115. Reuse of artefacts, Ephesus. P121. Map of Ephesus, design: Izaak Bakker P131. Reused Ephesian column along path to the House of the Virgin Mary. P153. Candle stand near exit, House of the Virgin Mary. P185. Sufi, Alevi, Christian and ancient religious symbols together in Central Anatolian shop. P209. Ephesian column. P233. Retreat caves shared by monks and dervishes, including, traditionally, Jalaluddin Rumi and a Greek monk, Sile, Central Turkey. P253. The House of the Virgin Mary, including the ‘L Room’ or ‘Koran Room’ at the right exit. P287. Wall of Petitions, House of the Virgin. P327. Pilgrims exiting the shrine from the wall of petitions. All Photographs taken by the author. Acknowledgements This undertaking is, first and foremost, the product of a great deal of support from Tilburg University, where I was mentored and guided for more than three years through the process of undertaking innovative research in the social sciences by Paul Post of the Department of Liturgical and Ritual Studies, in collaboration with Herman Beck of Islamic and Religious Studies and the Tilburg and Leiden Universities based anthropologist Wouter van Beek. Besides the many hours of revising, analysing and conferring about my work, Paul Post and Wouter van Beek were also kind enough to widen my exposure to Ritual Studies and fieldwork generally, by including me in their work on South African ritual sites and methodology in the study of ritual carried out with the University of the Free State (Bloemfontein) as part of the Dutch-South African collaboration that is the SANPAD project. Without the sustained patience and concern of Professors Post, Beck and van Beek, this book would indeed not be a reality. I further wish to thank all of the staff at the Department of Culture Studies at Tilburg University, not only for being an exciting new collaboration that I have been privileged to participate in, but for the great support, stimulating lecture series and scholarly camaraderie offered. Amongst my colleagues in the School of Humanities I would also like to thank my co-workers Petra Versnel and Inez Schippers, both of whom, in two different phases of my work, shared work space with me. Petra and Inez also happily shared their advice, support and fruitful discussion about our projects in the study of space and ritual that complimented my own work. The Netherlands Institute Turkey, at its Istanbul branch, generously offered a fellowship to me during my field work in the Summer of 2009, for which I continue to be very grateful, again an viii essential piece in the puzzle. Happily, our collaboration continues still. Finally, I cannot forget those close ones such as my father Robert Sparks and my mother Kathryn Sparks. Undoubtedly, the routes I have taken, intellectually, geographically and vocationally have been unfamiliar, yet they have always been more than supportive of my choices and offered not only this, but much appreciated trust that I would find my way. I further wish to thank all of my family and friends, including Ferhat Oz, a wonderful and encouraging presence throughout the final stages of this project. Contents Chapter 1. Introduction: An Enquiry Into Context ........................ 1 A. Concentric Rings of Context .................................... 4 B. Literature ................................................................. 6 C. Methodology ............................................................ 8 D. Overview: Shared Pilgrimage Topography, Typology and Taxonomy ........................................ 17 Chapter 2. Key Concepts ............................................................. 53 A. Religion .................................................................. 55 B. Space ...................................................................... 71 C. Ritual ..................................................................... 78 D. Syncretism ............................................................. 87 E. Hospitality .............................................................. 97 Chapter 3. Ephesus in Perspective: History and Geography ..... 115 A. Topography .......................................................... 116 B. History ................................................................. 121 C. Jewish and Early Christian Communities ........... 125 D. The Cult of Artemis .............................................. 129 E. Byzantium ............................................................. 145 F. Islam and Ephesus ............................................... 148 Chapter 4. Modern Ephesus and Turkey as Ritual Field ........... 153 A. Introduction to the Field ...................................... 153 x B. Main Respondents ............................................... 161 C. Analysis ............................................................... 168 D. Parallel Cases ..................................................... 175 Chapter 5. Shared Pilgrimage and Imaginal Bricolage ............. 185 A. Bricolage ............................................................. 189 B. The Characteristics of Imaginal Space ............... 191 C. Imagistic Bricolage and Layering ...................... 194 D. Soja and Thirdspace ........................................... 197 E. Excursus: Ibn Arabi and an Islamic View of the Imaginal .............................................................. 200 Chapter 6. Adab as Moral Principal in Ritual and Being .......... 209 A. Definitions and Fundamentals ............................ 212 B. Adab in Turkey in Historical Perspective ........... 220 C. Adab and Ritual Dilemma Scenarios .................. 222 D. Adab in a General Islamic Context: the Sunnah and Interfaith Spaces........................................... 224 E. Adab as Lived in Multi-Religious Modern Turkey and Mutual Conformity ........................... 227 F. Adab and Romanticisations of Religious Tolerance ............................................................ 229 Chapter 7. Relationship as Background to Ritual Sharing ........ 233 A. Ephesus in Relations Between Turkish Muslims and Others ........................................................... 235 B. The Maintenance of Relationships in the Wake of Remembered Collective Trauma ..................... 238 C. Relationship Through Boundaries: ‘Good Fences Make Good Neighbours’ ......................... 246 xi Chapter 8. In the Temenos with a Camera: Tourism and Tradition at Sites of Shared Pilgrimage ................................... 253 A. Introduction: An Average Day at the House of the Virgin Mary .................................................... 255 B. Background: Defining Pilgrimage and Tourism . 258 C. Tourism vs. Pilgrimage ........................................ 261 D. Modes and Identities in Sacred and Secular Constellations of Travel ....................................... 263 E. Attribution of Meaning and Basic Sacrality ........ 275 F. Ephesus ................................................................ 281 Chapter 9. Identity ..................................................................... 287 A. The Theme of Identity Per Se ............................... 291 B. Filling the Vacuum of Identity Narrative ............. 304 C. Identity in Recent Turkish History: Shifting Identities, Shifting States ....................................
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