Compliance or negotiation? Diyanet’s female preachers and the diffusion of a ‘true’ religion in Turkey

Abstract

This article addresses the religious activities of the female preachers ( vaizeler) employed by the Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet). It investigates the extent to which, and how, the activities carried out by the Diyanet’s vaizeler are in compliance with a state attempt to standardise and control female religious engagement. As religious officers, the vaizeler both spread and embody an organised religion. However, far from any dichotomous perspective, to assert their religious authority the Diyanet’s preachers navigate daily between compliance with the institution’s dogmas and negotiation with a plurality of interpretations labelled as unofficial, popular and traditional. To fully assess this issue, this article refers to ethnographic observations of everyday vaizeler’s preaching activities in Istanbul’s mosques. Conducted between 2013 and 2014, these observations are crucial for contextualising the evolution of the Turkish state monopoly over religious affairs, particularly in the aftermath of the July 2016 attempted coup.