Doctoral Dissertation Research: Negotiating Muslim Identity and Secular Politics: Religion and the Spatiality of the State in Turkey

从17世纪世纪欧洲现代国家的一开始，以国家名义工作的行为者就在追求政治目标时从属于或吸收了其人口中占主导地位的宗教机构和习俗。在过去的30-40年里，世界各地出现了宗教政治运动，挑战宗教对政治权力的服从。这些运动在中东特别强大，伊斯兰教已被视为抵抗国家威权主义和西方文化帝国主义的源泉。本研究项目通过对土耳其伊斯兰教和国家的政治地理调查，探讨宗教与现代国家之间的当代关系。它将研究国家伊斯兰教在宗教政策和Adalet ve Kalkinma Parti（正义与发展党）的辩论中的交叉动态-目前是土耳其国家立法机构的多数党，也是土耳其早期伊斯兰政党的温和后裔。研究将回答三个相互关联的问题：1）AKP政治家如何呈现土耳其国家的宗教地理？2)对土耳其国家的地理结构、行政能力和作为国家主权行为体的角色的理解如何塑造正义与发展党政治家治理宗教问题的方法？以及3）对国家和国际政治地理的理解如何塑造AKP政治家促进穆斯林政治身份的努力？从土耳其报纸报道，土耳其议会的立法辩论和对AKP政治家的采访中收集的数据将被结合和分析，以确定对国家控制和管理土耳其境内空间的能力和责任的理解在AKP政治家对宗教问题的态度中是积极的。现代国家是一系列复杂的战略项目，每个项目都试图在划定的领土内管理各种政治，社会和经济空间。本研究将探讨如何组织和管理这些空间是通过国家的宗教问题和身份的交叉塑造。利用土耳其在欧洲和中东之间的地缘政治地位，该国80年的国家世俗主义项目，以及其“穆斯林民主”执政党，本项目将记录一些在许多政治分析中被忽视的指导国家形成的文化因素。本书还将探讨一个温和的穆斯林政党如何在世俗主义者与原教旨主义者之间进行谈判。世俗主义者与原教旨主义者的分歧主导着土耳其国内外最流行的宗教和国家讨论。了解这种谈判的动态可以为如何成功地与穆斯林和更广泛的宗教群体进行接触并正确地将其纳入其中提供重要的见解。在历史上将宗教纳入国家认同的政治进程中。最后，作为博士论文研究改进奖，该补助金还将提供支持，使有前途的学生能够建立强大而独立的研究事业。

From the very beginning of the modern state in 17th century Europe, actors working in the name of the state have subordinated or co-opted the dominant religious institutions and practices of their populations in the pursuit of political objectives. Over the past 30-40 years, religio-political movements have emerged around the world to challenge this submission of religion to political power. These movements have been particularly powerful in the Middle East where Islam has become viewed as a source of resistance to state authoritarianism and Western cultural imperialism. This research project explores this contemporary relationship between religion and the modern state through a political geographic investigation of Islam and the state in Turkey. It will examine the dynamics of the state-Islam intersection within the religious policies and debates of the Adalet ve Kalkinma Parti (AKP - Justice and Development Party) - presently the majority party in Turkey's national legislature and a moderate descendent of earlier Islamist political parties in Turkey. The research will answer three interrelated questions: 1) How do AKP politicians present the religious geography of the Turkish state? 2) What understandings of the Turkish state's geographic structure, administrative capacity, and role as the country's sovereign actor shape the approach of AKP politicians to governing religious issues? and 3) What understandings of national and international political geography shape the efforts of AKP politicians to promote a Muslim political identity? Data gathered from Turkish newspaper coverage, legislative debates in Turkey's parliament, and interviews with AKP politicians will be combined and analyzed to determine what understandings of the state's capacity and responsibility to control and manage spaces within Turkey are active in the approach of AKP politicians to religious issues. The modern state is a complex array of strategic projects, each seeking to manage various political, social, and economic spaces within a delimited territory. This research will investigate how the organization and management of these spaces are shaped through the state's intersection with religious issues and identities. Drawing upon Turkey's geopolitical position between Europe and the Middle East, the country's eighty-year project of state secularism, and its 'Muslim Democratic' governing party, this project will document some of the cultural factors guiding state formation that are overlooked in many political analyses. It will also explore how a party of moderate Muslims negotiates between the secularist versus fundamentalist division that dominates most popular discussions of religion and state both within Turkey and outside of it. Understanding the dynamics of this negotiation can provide critical insight into how to successfully engage with and properly include Muslims, and religious populations more broadly, in political processes that have historically subsumed religion within national identities. Finally, as a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this grant will also provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong and independent research career.