Vulnerable identities: Pious women columnists' narratives on Islamic feminism and feminist self-identification in contemporary Turkey

Abstract

Synopsis This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study on pious women columnists' negotiation of feminist self-identification in contemporary Turkey. Given the rise of the anti-feminist gender politics under the pro-Islamist AKP (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi) [Justice and Development Party] rule, it discusses how pious women columnists as crucial intellectual figures in the public sphere interpret feminism, Islamic feminism, and feminist self-identification. In this frame, the main aim of this study is to put forward the complexities of pious women columnists' positions in the public sphere and how this positionality affects their narratives about feminist self-identification in contemporary Turkey. Making use of the theoretical perspective provided by concepts such as “positionality” and “situatedness,” this study concludes that negotiation of identity categories always takes place within the frame of reference, the contours of which is mapped out by one's position in the power configuration in society. Moreover, it brings into the open that the dialectical openings of Islamic feminism in pious women columnists' narratives can enhance the feminist coalitional politics in contemporary Turkey.