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Thinking Beyond the Secular-Pious Divide: a Relational Study Within and In-Between Secular Feminists and Pious Feminists in Turkey

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Thinking Beyond the Secular-Pious Divide: a Relational Study Within and In-Between Secular Feminists and Pious Feminists in Turkey Thinking Beyond the Secular-Pious Divide: A Relational Study Within and In-Between Secular Feminists and Pious Feminists in Turkey by Pinar Dokumaci A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Political Science University of Toronto © Copyright by Pinar Dokumaci 2018 ii Thinking Beyond the Secular Pious Divide: A Relational Study Within and In-Between Secular Feminists and Pious Feminists in Turkey Pinar Dokumaci Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Political Science University of Toronto 2018 Abstract My dissertation examines the relationship between secular feminists and pious feminists in Turkey from a relationship-centered, transformation-oriented, multi-discursive approach. Despite the growing research on either one group or the other, the current literature that brings together the two sides of the debate and explores the interpersonal relationships between the two women’s groups is at best minimal. This lack of relational focus not only reinforces the secular- pious binary in Turkey and reduces the complex and dynamic relationship between the two women’s groups into a relentless, seemingly irresolvable political opposition, but also, it limits further opportunities for possible future collaboration. My study is an effort to relationally rethink and deconstruct this common assumption. Based on my data from open-ended, one-on- one interviews, group interviews, and participant observation in Turkey in between 2011 and 2013, I analyze secular feminist and pious feminist narratives and identify alternative concepts to rethink the relationship between the two groups beyond the secular-pious divide. In the intersection of applied theory and empirical ethnographic research, I provide detailed discussions of secular feminist friendship (Chapter 3), pious feminist autonomy (Chapter 4), and the overall dynamics of disagreement and collaboration between the two groups (Chapter 5). In this manner, iii rather than predominantly relying on the assumptions of the secular/pious and analyzing how it predetermines feminist relationships, my analysis contributes to the previous debates by analyzing feminist relationships and how they iteratively challenge the assumptions of the secular/pious. While documenting both group’s perceptions of selfhood and otherhood, I also document how these perceptions change when my participants think about their Other in relation to themselves. I pursue this task by posing two inter-related questions: How can secular feminists and pious feminists in Turkey transcend their political fixities and transform their relationship in a more plural and collaborative manner? How can secular feminists and pious feminists in Turkey act upon their shared feminist interests instead of political disagreements, and in this way collaborate on the same women’s civil society project as equal partners and by mutual consent? iv Acknowledgments Before starting my PhD studies at the University of Toronto, I knew that I wanted to study a topic that personally mattered to me. Of course, I was very excited for the opportunity and to travel to the other side of the world and to a city that I did not know anyone. However, never could I imagine neither how demanding this process could be and how it would change me as a person. I am thankful for everything I have encountered during this process, including its agony and exhaustion, which taught me a lot about myself and life, especially their darker parts that make the light visible. Yet, none of this would be possible without the continuous encouragement, support, and love of my colleagues, my mentors, and my friends—who have become a second family to me and made Toronto my second home. With their support and love, I was able to carry on and keep on writing every day, even if that meant only 15 minutes a day, when things were heavy and life had other plans for me as well as for the people that I deeply cared about. Now that this chapter of my life is about to be over, I wish everyone that holds a dear place in my heart could live long enough or stay healthy to share this moment with me as they did during all the other crossroads of my life. Before delving into personal acknowledgements, I first would like to give a heartfelt thank you to all of the strong, powerful, and genuinely inspirational women who participated to my study during my fieldwork in Ankara, Istanbul, and Izmir. Although, I have listened to all of our interviews countless times over the years, I still marvel at the brilliance, sincerity, and wisdom they provided in response to my questions. I hope that, one day, there will be more studies like mine that would offer alternative guides for both women’s groups in Turkey so that they no longer feel the need to bend themselves in order to fit into a binary, including the political secular-pious dichotomy in Turkey. I am especially indebted to my supervisor, Jennifer Nedelsky. I consider myself very lucky to be one of her graduate students. She has always approached me with kindness and support. Even when I was writing my dissertation from Turkey, she was there to answer my questions, find a way to help me out, and motivate me to always put across my best work. She has challenged me intellectually, pushed me to expand my understanding on many issues, and, as a student, I benefited tremendously from her expertise, her wisdom, and the careful feedback she provided. She was an important source of personal and professional support. I will never forget the summer I have spent at her house which has helped me to get over a particularly hard period v of grief and loss. I also would like to thank the whole Nedelsky-Carens family, especially Michael and Allison, for making me feel at home during this period. Without Jenny’s help and support, I would not be able to cross the finishing line, especially its last few months where we had to fasten the process. I am truly grateful for being a part of her “network of relations.” I am also thankful for Margaret Kohn’s insightful comments, suggestions, and detailed feedback. Most importantly, Peggy was the first person to suggest that I should write about pious feminist agency in Chapter 4 during our committee meeting before I left for Turkey. Without her expertise and knowledge, I would never be able to write Chapter 4 and provide the critique I have provided. Similarly, Paul Kingston helped me to ground my theoretical discussion from a comparative politics perspective and frame my discussion in a way that does not set aside the important institutional and structure barriers. Paul has helped me to find alternative ways in which the two women’s groups in my study could locate common objectives to work together. His questions still guide me when I think about alternative ways in which I can re-frame my discussion for further publication. I am also grateful to Ruth Marshall and Allison Weir for being a part of my committee. I am very humbled that they read my dissertation so diligently in such short notice. Ruth not only read my dissertation twice and corrected my broken English, but she helped me to locate bigger issues regarding the meaning of Islam, piety, and secularism. While Allison Weir’s careful, detailed, and thoughtful report about my work ignited further theoretical questions that I can pursue further. I also thank the University of Toronto Department of Political Science and the School of Graduate Studies for supporting me financially and making my study possible. Throughout my years at the University of Toronto, I have received thoughtful advice about my work from Joseph Carens, Nancy Bertoldi, Alison Chasteen and Ed Schatz. It was also a pleasure to work with Simone Chambers, Courtney Jung, Melissa Levin, Arnd Jurgensen, Ryan Balot, and Clifford Orwin as a teaching assistant. I am also forever grateful for Carolynn Branton, Joan Kallis, Louis Tentsos, and Mary-Alice Bailey for their help in administrative matters. From Boğaziçi University, I want to thank Hakan Yılmaz in particular for being a mentor to me and for his academic and professional help since the second year of my undergraduate studies. I also thank Dilek Çınar, Virginia Keyder, Kemal Kirişçi, Irene Banias, and Gül Sosay for their guidance during my master’s studies at the Boğaziçi University; and Fuat Keyman, Ziya Öniş, Demet Yalçın Mousseau, and Michael Mousseau from my undergraduate studies at Koç vi University. My former colleagues at EDAM (Center for Economics and Foreign Policy) and the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees) Istanbul field office, especially Fuat Özdoğru, also helped me to find my way and narrow down the issues that I am interested in studying in light of their valuable experience in the field. I truly treasure the support of my friends during this process. During the formative years of our PhDs, Izabela Steflja was my partner-in-crime as we worked together through our dissertations and navigated through different coffee shops of Toronto. At one point, we joked about writing a book about Toronto’s coffee shops before our dissertations and even tentatively entitled it, Black Coffee, Black Ink. I admire her brilliant mind and big, big heart. I am glad that she asked me to join her on that trip to Montreal through which bonded us. I am also grateful that, through Izabela, I had a chance to meet Daniela Kortan, Sussanna Kislenko, and Betül Keleş who all supported me even in this processwhen we ended up in different corners of the world. From our department, I thank Sude Beltan, who was my first friend in Toronto and the last person I have seen before my defense, and Özlem Aslan, who supported me wholeheartedly especially during the final stages of my dissertation.
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