European University Institute Library

Faith and citizenship among the Nur community in Turkey, a study in Islamic socio-political imagination, Maria Concetta Tedesco

eng

Through an ethnographic study of sohbet meetings and patterns of civic and political engagement of the Nur community in Turkey, this thesis examines the processes through which Islamic socio-political imaginaries are constructed and subsequently turned into practice. The phrase socio-political imaginary is used in the meaning given to it by Charles Taylor. According to the author, a social imaginary is the transformation of social theory into the profound normative notions and imagines that enable common people's practice of society. Applying this analytical tool to the study of an Islamic community allows the researcher to fill in a gap of time and space existing in the literature about Islamic movements. In terms of time, it allows the researcher to focus the investigation on a little theorized step in the process of mobilization by religious actors that is, the cognitive elaboration of a socio-political project before mobilization around that project is organized. In terms of space, it grasps the intermediate level of cognition existing between the theological elaboration on politics and society promoted by religious scholars and the masses' practical knowledge of the social realm constituted by a set of instinctive beliefs and judgments. Finally, the concept of social imaginary allows the researcher to analyse discourse and practice as mutually sustaining elements that together define a social actor's function and position in society. Unravelling this dynamic interaction means going back and forth, both temporally and cognitively, between imagination and acts and recognizing that the discourse in itself can be influenced by the social space for which it provides a map

Includes bibliographical references (p. 233-244)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--European University Institute (SPS), 2015.

no index present

non fiction

Faith and citizenship among the Nur community in Turkey

theses

933294358

Defence date: 10 June 2015

Maria Concetta Tedesco

EUI PhD thesesEUI theses

a study in Islamic socio-political imagination