Islamist women in the post-1980s modern Turkey: ambivalent resistence

This thesis analyzes the situation of Islamist women in the post-1980’s Turkey. Islamist women who have participated in the Islamist movement of the post-1980’s, have become the objects of the struggle between the Islamist and secularist ideologies. Despite their increasing public visibility, they have been rendered invisible as active subjects, and attempted to be silenced. Islamist women are actively struggling for their presence in the public sphere and for holding active subject position, while rejecting the traditional ways of life. They are resisting to the stereotypes of the ‘ideal womanhood’ imposed on them by both to the secularist and Islamic patriarchy. However, this process of resistence, and the resultant identities and ways of life are full of contradictions and dilemmas stemming from the ambivalent position they are placed into by the conflict between the Islamist and secularist ideologies. In this thesis, the ambivalent resistance of Islamist women in the post-1980’s Turkey is elaborated with regard to the survival and resistence strategies they developed at the levels of both discourse and practice. Throughout the analysis, Islamist women’s literary works and the interviews conducted with them by several social scientists, as well as, the findings of the field research I conducted with ten Islamist women by using feminist methodology are utilized. This thesis aims to listen to the voices of Islamist women by moving beyond the hegemonic framework based on secularist/ Islamist and modern/ traditional dualities. From a feminist standpoint, the thesis tries to reveal the active agency of Islamist women and to understand their life experiences, without falling into the trap of re-objectifying, re-victimizing and re-silencing Islamist women in Turkey.