INTERNAL MIGRANTS AND EVERYDAY ISLAM IN THE TURKISH CONTEXT Hasan Ali Yılmaz ...

366 Pages·2017·2.03 MB·English

by  Hasan Ali Yilmaz

INTERNAL MIGRANTS AND EVERYDAY ISLAM IN THE
TURKISH CONTEXT

Hasan Ali Yılmaz

Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department
of Sociology, Lancaster University

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
LANCASTER UNIVERSITY

May 2018
Declaration
I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work
and that it has not been submitted in any form
for the award of a higher degree elsewhere.

Hasan Ali Yılmaz
May 2018

Signature:
Acknowledgements
Writing the thesis has been a long journey, which I could not have embarked on and
endured without the support of many people and institutions. First, I would like to
thank my supervisors, Professor Anne-Marie Fortier and Professor Kim Knott. Their
words, advice, patience and guidance have been invaluable and indispensable. I am
also grateful to my panel examiners, Dr. Sossie Kasbarian and Professor Celia
Roberts, and viva voce (oral) examiners, Dr. Shuruq Naguib and Professor Seán
Mcloughlin, who provided advice and gave comments on the thesis, thus helping me
to improve my final submission. Finally, I am thankful to the Turkish Ministry of
National Education for the grant that allowed me to carry out this study.
The research would never have come about without the invaluable input of all
those who participated in this study through generously sharing their time and stories
with me. I am grateful to the men, women and association leaders who welcomed me
into their associations, workplaces and homes. In addition, I would also like to thank
my friends Ethem, Adnan, Nurettin and Barış for their friendship, which helped me to
overcome the difficult times and made my PhD experience much more worthwhile.
Special thanks goes to my friend Hiba, who has patiently endured the upheavals that
this project has brought about and supported me throughout. I also wish to thank
Laura Key for proofreading the thesis and for her insightful comments on several
drafts of the thesis.
My family members deserve a special mention for their support, their belief in
me and their love. Thank you to my parents (Huri and Ömer), sisters (Elif, Hafıze,
Emine Gül, Mukaddes and Hacer Fatıma), and my brothers (Aşkın Sabit and
Muhammet), and my aunt (Ayşe).

ii
Table of Contents
Declaration ..................................................................................................................... i
Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... ii
Abstract ......................................................................................................................... v
List of Charts, Maps, Figures and Tables ................................................................ vii
Modern Turkish Transliteration Chart .................................................................. viii
Glossary ....................................................................................................................... ix
Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1
Motivations .............................................................................................................. 14
Outline of the thesis ................................................................................................. 17
Chapter 1: Internal Migration and Religion in the Translocal Context ............... 20
1.1 Religion and internal migration ....................................................................... 21
1.2 Religion, translocalism and everyday life ........................................................ 30
1.3 Spaces of belonging ......................................................................................... 40
1.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 56
Chapter 2: Placing Religion and Internal Migration in the Turkish Context ..... 59
2.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 59
2.2 The descriptive characteristics of internal migration ....................................... 59
2.3 The role of the state in migration movements and housing ............................. 69
2.4 Religion in the context of migration and institutions ....................................... 77
2.5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 98
Chapter 3: Methodology .......................................................................................... 100
3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 100
3.2 Ethnographic multi-sited research .................................................................. 100
3.3 Methods: Interviews and observations ........................................................... 102
3.4 Limitations ..................................................................................................... 112
3.5 Issues .............................................................................................................. 115
3.6 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 128
Chapter 4: Migration to Gebze: Associated Reasons and Conditions ................ 130
4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 130
4.2 Life histories ................................................................................................... 133
4.3 Leaving Giresun and Erzurum ....................................................................... 140
4.4 Being a gurbetçi in gurbet .............................................................................. 143
4.5 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 151
Chapter 5: Grounding oneself in a Squatter Neighbourhood ............................. 153
5.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 153
5.2 The transition period: Creating spaces of sociality and intimacy .................. 167
5.3 The re-grounding period: Affiliation with associations ................................. 170
5.4 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 178
Chapter 6: Migrants’ Associations: ‘Home-Making’ and Feeling ‘at Home’ .... 181
6.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 181
iii
6.2 Dernek: ‘My home’ ........................................................................................ 190
6.3 Beyan: The ‘garden of heaven’ ...................................................................... 201
6.4 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 213
Chapter 7: The Boundaries between Islamic Identities ....................................... 216
7.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 216
7.2 The boundaries of parental Islam ................................................................... 230
7.3 The boundaries between Sufi and Salafi Islam ............................................. 239
7.4 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 254
Chapter 8: Translocal Family Relations ................................................................ 258
8.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 258
8.2 Care and obligation through translocal connections ...................................... 265
8.3 The changing religious lives of migrants’ families ........................................ 270
8.4 Boundaries and kin relationships In Giresun: ............................................... 276
8.5 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 288
Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 290
1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 290
2 Main findings ................................................................................................. 290
3 Empirical and conceptual contributions ......................................................... 295
4 Future research ............................................................................................... 305
Appendices ................................................................................................................ 309
Appendix 1: Summary of data sources, descriptions and aims.............................. 309
Appendix 2: Lineage: Golden chain ...................................................................... 310
Appendix 3: Descriptive characteristic of participants .......................................... 311
Appendix 4: Sample of interview schedule — migrants in Gebze ........................ 315
Appendix 5: Sample of information sheet and consent forms ............................... 319
References ................................................................................................................. 328

iv
Abstract
This thesis explores the interplay between internal migration and religion.
Specifically, it examines internal migrants’ reconfiguration of boundaries and spaces
of belonging, as well as the impact that migration has on the religious lives of
migrants and those who are left behind. These topics are investigated in relation to the
historical and political environment in Turkey. The study focuses on migrants coming
into the Gebze urban district from the provinces of Giresun and Erzurum, and it
considers the experiences of both migrants and their family members who have
remained in these provinces. A multi-sited ethnographic research model is used that
incorporates a translocal analytical framework, which enables the relationship
between internal migration and religion to be conceptualised.
Using the ‘everyday lived religion’ approach and a translocal lens, life history
interviews are analysed in order to elucidate the relationship between internal
migration and religious life. The concept of ‘everyday lived religion’ permits a
consideration of aspects of religion that are otherwise invisible, such as experiences
and actions in migrants’ lives that are not necessarily seen as religious in nature.
Furthermore, the examination of life histories enables the structural, individual and
local factors behind migrants’ experiences (the continuation and reinvention of their
religious lives, the remaking of homes, or the reconstruction of boundaries) to be
revealed. In addition, the translocal lens facilitates scrutiny of the subjective
experiences of both migrants and their relatives in the place of origin. The
perceptions, emotions and practices of individuals and groups are studied here, with
the importance of connections between and across spaces, places and locales being
taken into account.
v
The results demonstrate that migrants’ home- and boundary-making ideas and
practices are reconfigured via the interactions, relationships and connections that
occur both in the place of settlement and the place of origin. Moreover, institutional
factors shape – and, indeed, are shaped by – religion and migration. The thesis makes
empirical and conceptual contributions to the field of internal-migration research by
arguing that religion in both the hometown and the destination is created, formed and
influenced by the migration experience. As such, this study challenges the mainstream
view that Islam is a product of the local setting, as well as indicating that the
dichotomy between the rural and the urban is insufficient to explicate the complexity
of the migration context. Further still, religion, with its transcendent aspect,
translocalises migrants’ lives so that ‘here’ (the place of settlement), ‘there’ (the
hometown) and ‘elsewhere’ (the spiritual world) become relevant to migrants’
definitions of the self and others, as well as their reconfiguration of spaces.
Ultimately, a fusion of the ‘everyday lived religion’ and translocal approaches enables
us to see that religion is used, articulated and performed in everyday places, being
negotiated and contested by migrants and those who are left behind.

vi
List of Charts, Maps, Figures and Tables
List of Charts
Chart 2.1: Migrant population across the provinces (1945–2015) ..............................60
Chart 2.2: Rural and urban populations in Turkey (1927–2013) ……….……………61
Chart 2.3: Proportion of migrants in the population by residence (1976–2013) .....…62
Chart 2.4: Sectors of migrant population by reasons for migration ………………….62
Chart 2.5: Population of Gebze (1960–2015) ...……...………………………………65
Chart 2.6: Rural and urban populations of Giresun and Erzurum (1965–2015) …......67
Chart 2.7: Net migration rates for the Giresun and Erzurum province ……………....67
List of Graphics and Maps
Graphic 2.1: Population distribution over the years ……......…………….….……….61
Map 2.2: Erzurum and Giresun provinces and the Gebze district ……….….…….64
List of Figures
Figure 2.1: Typical gecekondu houses ………..……………………….…….…..……73
Figure 6.1: Decorations at a hometown association ……..………….…...……...….193
List of Tables
Table 2.1: Urbanisation rate and estimated number of squats in Turkey ….……...…...73

vii
Modern Turkish Transliteration Chart
Charts 1 and 2 present modern Turkish letters and their sounds as transliterated into
Roman letters according to current academic usage.
Chart 1: Consonants
Modern Turkish Sounds Modern Turkish Sounds
b b l l
c j m m
ç ç n n
d d p p
f f r r
g g s s or th
ğ gh ş sh
h h t t
h kh v w or v or u
j zh y y
k k or q z z or d or dh

Chart 2: Vowels

Modern Turkish Sounds
Long
ā ā
ū ū
ī ī
Short
a or e a
u or ü u
i or i i
Source: https://ijmes.chass.ncsu.edu/docs/TransChart.pdf (Accessed 17 February
2018).

viii
Glossary
Açık: Open or uncovered
Akraba: Kin
Almancı: Germans
Alevi: Anatolian version of Shiism; a more hybrid form of belief, consisting of
elements of Sufism, Shamanism, Christianity and Judaism, as well as Islam
Alim: Islamic scholar
Asr-al saadat: The age of the Prophet Muhammed
Bayram: festive/Eid days
Berat kandili: Night of salvation
Bereket: Blessing and power, spiritual width or happiness
Bid’at: Innovation; unorthodox religious practices and materials
Cemaat: Group or community
Cübbe: Long male cloaks
Çarşaf: Long, enveloping female garment
Dernek: Association
Dua: Invocation/act of supplication
Efe/effendi: Ottoman title of respect, like sir
Emr-i bi’l m’aruf ve nehy-i ani’l münker: Commanding good and forbidding evil
Eyvah: Alas!
Feyiz: Spiritual favour and bounty
Gecekondu: Slum/squatter house
Gurbet: Place away from home
Gurbetçi: Those who are away from home
Gurbetlik: A state of malaise, alienation and sorrow
Hadis: The words or deeds of the Prophet Muhammed/his tradition
Haramlık-selamlık: An Islamic practice of separation inside houses on the basis of
gender. Haramlık is a part of house reserved for women, while selamlık is an area of a
house reserved for men.
Helal: Permitted and lawful
Hemşehri: Fellow countrymen, ‘hometowners’
Hemşehricilik: Townsmanship, Co-regionalist
ix