Locating Women and the Expansion of Islamic Morality in the New Turkey

Abstract

Abstract This chapter discusses the formation of new Muslim female selves in New Turkey. Drawing on Sehlikoglu and Kütük-Kuriş’s separate longitudinal field research conducted in Istanbul since the early 2000s, this chapter explores how Muslim women navigate the political and socioeconomic transformations that Turkey underwent during the AKP rule. It critically engages with the existing literature on Muslim women that adopts limited tropes, overlooking the intricate ways in which Muslim women’s desire for agentive, consumerist, and entrepreneurial lifestyles complicates notions of modernity and extends the boundaries of Islamic orthodoxy. The chapter focuses on Muslim women’s aspirations in the realms of leisure, highlighting how they propose diverse and contested interpretations within the realm of Islamic morality. While recognizing that these performances do not necessarily align with the dominant feminist clusters, we centralize women’s own interpretations which complicate the underlying thesis of gendered Islam. We contribute to the literature on Muslim women’s subjectivity and resonate with anthropological and sociological scholarship on Muslim geographies worldwide, underscoring the fluidity, multiplicity, and multifaceted aspect of self-making in the lives of Muslim women.