Since coming to power, Turkey’s governing party, the AKP has made poverty relief a central part of their political program. In addition to neoliberal reforms, AKP’s program has involved an emphasis on Islamic charity that is unprecedented in the history of the Turkish Republic. To understand the causes and consequences of this phenomenon, Gizem Zencirci introduces the concept of the Muslim Social, defined as a welfare regime that reimagined and reconfigured Islamic charitable practices to address the complex needs of a modern market society.

Through an in-depth ethnography of social service provision, in The Muslim Social: Neoliberalism, Charity, and Poverty in Turkey (Syracuse University Press, 2024), Zencirci demonstrates the blending of religious values and neoliberal elements in dynamic, flexible, and unexpected ways. Although these governmental assemblages of Islamic neoliberalism produced new forms of generosity, distinctive notions of poverty, and novel ways of relating to others in society, Zencirci’s analysis reveals how this welfare regime privileged managerial efficiency and emotional well-being at the expense of other objectives such as equality, development, or justice. The book provides a lens onto the everyday life of Islamic neoliberalism, while also mapping the kind of political concerns that animate poverty governance in our capitalist present.

Book talk co-sponsored the by Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, CDDRL's Program on Turkey, and the Middle Eastern Studies Forum.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Gizem Zencirci, PhD studies the cultural politics of neoliberalism in Turkey. Zencirci is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College. Her research interests include Islamic neoliberalism, civilizationism, heritage studies, and cultural economy. Her work has been published in journals such as the International Journal of Middle East Studies, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, and the Journal of Cultural Economy.

Author Alexandra Hudson, daughter of the "Manners Lady," was raised to respect others. But as she grew up, she discovered a difference between politeness―a superficial appearance of good manners―and true civility. In a timely new book, Hudson sheds light on how civility can help bridge our political divide. 

On May 14, the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law is pleased to host Hudson for a conversation about her latest book, The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves (St. Martin's Press, 2023), with Francis Fukuyama, the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI).

ABOUT THE BOOK

From classical philosophers like Epictetus, to great twentieth-century thinkers like Martin Luther King Jr., to her own experience working in the federal government during one of the most politically fraught eras in our nation's history, Hudson examines how civility―a respect for the personhood and dignity of others―transcends political disagreements. Respecting someone means valuing them enough to tell them when you think they are wrong.

It’s easy to look at the divided state of the world and blame our leaders, the media, or our education system. Instead, we should focus on what we can control: ourselves. The Soul of Civility empowers readers to live tolerantly with others despite deep differences, and to rigorously protest wrongs and debate issues rather than silencing disagreements. A robust public discourse is essential to a truly civil society, and respecting others means telling hard truths. If enough of us decide to change ourselves, we might be able to change the world we live in, too.

Provocative, personal, and acutely relevant, The Soul of Civility is an essential book for our era.

Why do some religious minorities, lacking any significant power and presenting no imminent threat, provoke the ire of popular groups and become targets of violent attacks? Tezcür's book offers the first comparative-historical study of mass atrocities targeting certain liminal minorities that are stigmatized across generations, as they lack theological recognition and social acceptance from a dominant religious group. The combination of hatred based on religious stigmas and political resentment becomes the spark leading to mass violence against these minorities. Case studies, utilizing a rich variety of original sources, focus on anti-Yezidi genocidal attacks in Iraq and anti-Alevi massacres in Turkey.

This event is co-sponsored by the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, the Middle Eastern Studies Forum, and CDDRL's Program on Turkey.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Güneş Murat Tezcür (Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2005) is the Director of the School of Politics and Global Studies at the Arizona State University. He is also a professor in the same school. He is primarily a scholar of darker shades of human experience and explores the trajectories and legacies of political violence and politics of identity with a focus on Iranian, Kurdish, and Turkish human geography as well as the United States. His scholarship has appeared in many leading scholarly journals. His newest book is Liminal Minorities: Religion and Mass Violence in Muslim Societies (Cornell University Press, 2024). He most recently edited The Oxford Handbook of Turkish Politics (Oxford University Press, 2022). His scholarship has been supported by a variety of entities including the National Science Foundation, Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, and United States Institute of Peace.