Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Association for the Studies of Nationalities, Cluj 2023, Cluj-Napoca, Romanya, 6 - 08 Temmuz 2023
Socio-Cultural Formations of Identifications in Alevi-Sunni Intermarriages, Izmir, Turkey
Through the findings of research on Alevi and Sunni intermarriages in Izmir, Turkey, this presentation shows how partners in Alevi-Sunni intermarriages recognise differences between Sunniness and Aleviness, how they identify themselves in relation to these categories and define them, and how their marriage influences their identifications. It presents how the intermarried spouses’ own definitions of their background categories of Aleviness and Sunniness reveal the influences of historical construction of these categories in relation to one another, political stances and current negotiations. Self-identifications and perceptions of differences are handled within these influences. Moreover, unifying criteria transcending the boundaries of these categories enable them to build on a sense of ‘we’. The findings disclose spouses' ambiguous, fluid, relational and contextual definitions within their understandings of one another as parts of a “we”, the ways of living together despite the categorical and group differentiations, and the complexities of their identifications and negotiations within local and global discourses.
Intermarriages, group contact, identification, cultural studies, Turkey