The Muslim “crying boy” in Turkey: aestheticization and politicization of suffering in Islamic imagination

Abstract

This article seeks to explain the tears of the Crying Boy as reproduced on the cover of the first issue of Sızıntı and to explore the dialogue between Islamic imaginations in Turkey and the tearful face of an innocent child. First, I will address the position of the Crying Boy picture in popular culture and national imaginations in Turkey. Next, I will explore the meaning and value of the Crying Boy who appears on the cover of Sızıntı, analyzing the conjunction of this image and the caption directed to him and locating this image within a particular Islamic imagination that relies on tears and childhood innocence. Finally, I will discuss the power of Crying Boy in today’s political Islam in Turkey, where the image’s narrative is based on the discourse and ideology of undeserved suffering.