Remaking Alevism in diaspora: The socio-spatial dynamics of migrant Alevism in the UK

Abstract

This research explores how a religion 'on the move' responds to the challenges of diasporic conditions and the tensions between continuity and change. It provides an understanding of how migrant religions articulate and orient their ritual universe and social and organisational structures within the new spatial settings of diaspora. Alevism, forming the second-largest religious movement in Turkey, has recently adopted a transnational scope as a consequence of international migration. Migration has transformed the oppressed Alevis into a migrant faith community with the freedom to practise their collective rituals openly and, to some extent, have become 'recognised' in the host society, while the Alevi claim for recognition is still an ongoing struggle in Turkey. During three decades of diasporic journey, Alevis have had significant community developments, intensifying their activism in the national and transnational spheres. Political and economic developments in the UK have also shaped their homeland engagements. Besides newly built migrant houses, cemevis (Alevi community centres) began to spread into rural areas, funded by diaspora remittances. Such diasporic spatial markers have multiple effects on the homeland's changing rural landscape. A multi-sited ethnography, including interviews and observations in London and villages of British Alevis in Turkey, is used to gain insights into the remaking of religion and rebuilding of identity and community in the diaspora. It examines the diasporic experience of the Alevi community in the UK through territorialisation, the rebuilding of community and identity and reproduction of culture, and their impact on the changing rural homeland landscape. Intergenerational transmission and the Alevi claim for visibility and recognition are the central motivations shaping the diasporic rebuilding process, in particular placemaking performances. As a result, diasporic Alevism has become more institutionalised, organised and spatialised. Such diasporic developments have also involved ritual transformation. The religious structures established through historical processes have encountered many challenges and have been updated and re-oriented in the diaspora setting. This thesis demonstrates that the diasporic experience has profoundly transformed ritualised Alevi culture.