Doctoral Dissertation Research: From Citizen to Minority: Legal Reform and 'Double- Conversion' in Turkey

在过去十年中，空前数量的亚美尼亚裔穆斯林公民寻求土耳其世俗法律当局的仲裁，以皈依其祖先的宗教--基督教。本项目审查这一“双重皈依”行为的法律影响，这种行为既标志着宗教从伊斯兰教皈依基督教，也标志着宗教从多数人地位转变为宗教少数人的地位。土耳其为研究宗教的世俗法律条例提供了非常重要的背景，因为每个公民的宗教信仰都登记在国民身份证上。这个关于土耳其宗教皈依和法律改革的项目调查了宗教少数群体对宗教信仰的主张与世俗民族国家的法律适用和官僚法规之间的复杂相互作用，研究了以下问题：世俗国家以什么方式决定和维持向少数群体宗教皈依的法律和宗教条件？通过对皈依作为一种历史和政治现象的民族志调查，表明宗教在世俗民法和官僚法规中的新位置，这项研究有助于正在进行的辩论，以更好地区分宗教和世俗这两个概念是如何在具体的历史和政治环境中通过具体的法律和监管措施产生的。方法包括参与者和非参与者观察，收集生活史，在教堂和法庭等不同地点进行半结构化访谈，以及仔细阅读法庭记录。该项目通过法律人类学的框架扩展了最近对世俗主义的研究，重点关注法律专业人员以及宗教皈依者如何接受与国家和法律相关的信仰、法律改革和宗教权利的不同论述。

In the past ten years unprecedented numbers of Muslim citizens of Armenian descent have sought the arbitration of secular legal authorities of Turkey to convert to Christianity, the religion of their ancestors. This project examines the legal implications of this act of "double-conversion" that marks both religious conversion from Islam to Christianity, and conversion from a majority status to that of a religious minority. Turkey provides a highly significant context for the study of the secular legal regulations of religion since the religious affiliation of every citizen is registered on national identity cards. Investigating the complex interaction between the claims of religious minorities about religious belief and the application of law and bureaucratic regulations of the secular nation-state, this project on religious conversion and legal reform in Turkey researches the following question: In what ways does the secular state determine and maintain legal and religious conditions under which conversion to a minority religion can take place? Through an ethnographic investigation of conversion as a historical and political phenomenon that is indicative of a novel place for religion in secular civil law and bureaucratic regulations, this research contributes to ongoing debates for a more differentiated understanding of how the twin concepts of religion and the secular are produced through specific legal and regulatory measures within concrete historical and political circumstances. Methods include participant and non-participant observation, collecting life histories, and semi-structured interviews in a variety of sites such as churches and courtrooms as well as close readings of court records. The project expands on recent studies of secularism through the framework of legal anthropology by focusing on the question of how legal professionals as well as religious converts embrace different discourses of belief, legal reform and religious rights as they situate themselves in relation to state and law.