<b>Cultural Muslims: Popular Religiosity among Teachers in Public Elementary Schools in Turkey</b>
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7596/taksad.v2i3.270Keywords:
Popular religion, perception of religion, Turkish Islam, teachers.Abstract
Abstract Even though there are many studies about religious life in Turkey, there are very few that examine religiosity within a specific profession. This study explores popular religiosity among Turkish elementary school teachers. Popular religion, folk religion, unofficial religion, invisible religion, common religion, religious populism”all of these terms point to a dimension of religious life that suggests a differentiation between the religion of ordinary people and the religion of theologians, reverends, and other religious professionals. In this study, I use the results of a survey that I conducted with 295 teachers in 12 public elementary schools in Turkey in 2005 to explore popular religiosity among teachers. The results show that popular religiosity is lower among teachers than the majority of population. However, some teachers make religion a part of their cultural life, and see the practice of religion as a cultural habit.References
Aslan, Mustafa. (2004). Türk Popüler Dindarlığı. Istanbul: Dem Yay.
Chidester, David. (2005). Authentic Fakes: Religion and American Popular Culture. Los
Angeles: University of California Press.
Eickelman, Dale. (1985). Knowledge and Power in Morocco. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press.
Engin, Mustafa. (2002). Đlköğretim Öğretmenlerinin, Đlköğretim Müfettişlerinin Rehberlik ve
Đş Başında Yetiştirme Görevlerine Đlişkin Algı ve Beklentileri. Yıldız Technical Unv. Social
Science Institute (unpublished M.A. thesis), Đstanbul.
Forbes, Bruce David. (2000). “Finding Religion in Unexpected Places.” Religion and Popular
Culture in America (ed. by Bruce David Forbes and Jeffrey H. Mahan). Berkeley, CA:
University of California Press.
Freyer, Hans. (1964). Din Sosyolojisi. Translated by Turgut Kalpsüz. Ankara: Ankara
Üniversitesi Basımevi.
Geertz, Clifford. (1987). Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight. MN Press: Cambridge.
Herzfeld, Michael. (2005). Cultural Intimacy: Social Poetics in the Nation-State (second ed.).
New York: Routledge.
Kim, Heon Choul. (2003). Din Değiştirmenin Entelektüel Arka Planı. Đstanbul: Kaynak Yay.
Kose, Ali. (1997). Neden Đslam’ı Seçiyorlar: Müslüman Olan Đngilizler Üzerine PsikoSosyolojik
Bir Đnceleme. Đstanbul: Đsam Yay.
Kucukcan, Talip. (2007). The Cultivation of Memory in the Gulen Community. Paper
presented at the conference on Muslim World in Transition: Contributions of the Gulen
Movement. House of Lords, London. 25-27 October 2007.
Lippy, Charles. (1994). Being religious, American Style: A history of popular religiosity in
the United States. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.
Mardin, Serif. (1992). Din ve Đdeoloji. 5. Edition. Đstanbul: Đletişim Yay.
Mensching, Gustav. (1994). Dini Sosyoloji. Translated by Mehmet Aydın. Konya: Tekin
Kitabevi.
Pew Research Center. (2012). “The World’s Muslims: Unity and Diversity.”
Simmel, Georg. (1957). “Fashion.” American Journal of Sociology. 62:1; p.541.
Taylor, Charles. (1989). Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press.
TESEV (The Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation). (2006).
Williams, Peter W. (1989). Popular religion in America: Symbolic Change and the
Modernization Process in Historical Perspective. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Williams, Raymond. [1980] (2005). Culture and Materialism. New York: Verso.
Yilmaz, Selman. (2006). A Sociological Analysis of Elementary School Teachers’ Perception
of Religion: Istanbul Sample. Non-published M.A. Thesis. Istanbul: Marmara University.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
All papers licensed under Creative Commons 4.0 CC-BY.- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
Under the following terms:
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.