Psychocultural dynamics of ethno-sectarian identities: Understanding the emotional dimensions of Alevi identity revival in Turkey

Abstract

Popular discourses on significant historical episodes, collective dramas and especially the negative collective experiences that affect the collective emotions such as fear, humiliation and victimhood are important dimension of studies on ethno-sectarian identities. Shared narratives on massacres, wars, massive scale violence and humiliating collective experiences also play significant roles in the formation and the maintenance of large group identities. The dynamics of the “remembrance” or “reproduction” of the emotional elements of ethno-sectarian identities therefore is the research topic of this study. This study investigates the ways through which the personal and collective emotions such as grief/victimhood, fear and humiliation interact with each other and influence the Alevi identity negotiation process within the context of post 1980 Turkey. Alevi personal and collective narratives on humiliating experiences are explored through life stories as well as widely shared group narratives. This study argues that the turning points in life stories of the individuals, who belong to the marginalized groups, play significant roles to connect/ reconnect the personal experience of humiliation, fear, victimization and anger with the widely shared collective dramas. Marc Howard Ross’ notions of “psychocultural dramas” and “psychocultural interpretations” are used to analyze Alevi narratives on collective emotions. The theoretical assumptions and the findings of this research can have a significant contributions to addressing the underlying sources of the identity based discontents of Alevi community in Turkey and the other ethno-sectarian communities such as in Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan as well as