Between ‘tradition’ and movement: the emergence of Turkey’s Anti-Capitalist Muslims in the age of protest

Leor Uestebay, PhD student at the Department of Anthropology, has recently contributed to the journal Globalizations with the article 'Between ‘tradition’ and movement: the emergence of Turkey’s Anti-Capitalist Muslims in the age of protest.'

The article discusses the emergence of the “Anti-Capitalist Muslims” (ACMs) movement as the conjunction of critical Muslim politics and grassroots activism in Istanbul, Turkey. It explores the way in which Islam has been reconstituted in Turkish politics, in contrast to both fundamentalism and the government’s neoliberal conservatism. The article draws upon Talal Asad’s definition of Islam as a ‘tradition’ that attempts to achieve coherent narratives in a form which considers and enters into a dialogue with the present context, especially with contemporary social movements. It is argued that through a dialogue between Islam and anti-capitalist social movements, the ACMs constructed an alternative Islamic tradition, focused especially on emancipation, equality, and challenging structures of domination. Yet this alternative tradition proved unable to sustain itself due to the presence of a number of ongoing ridigities, which it is suggested might be addressed in future attempts to construct an anti-capitalist form of Islam.

Leor Uestebay, Between ‘tradition’ and movement: the emergence of Turkey’s Anti-Capitalist Muslims in the age of protest, Globalizations, Volume 16, Issue 2, January 2019.