Religion, Memory and Sense of Belonging: The Tradition of Memorization of The Qur’an in Turkey 1923

Religion, Memory and Sense of Belonging: The Tradition of Memorization of the Qur’an in Turkey (1923–1950) examines the impact of the secular policies implemented in the early years of the Republic on the tradition of Qur’an memorization. During the single-party era between 1923 and 1950, the reorganization of educational institutions, the state’s control over religious practices, and the discourse of modernization directly affected the institution of memorization; hafizes faced various challenges in terms of identity, belonging, and education.
Drawing on oral history and ethnographic methods, this study aims to make the experiences of hafizes visible. The pressures they encountered in daily life, the forms of resistance developed against state policies, and the traces they left in social memory are analyzed within a historical framework. In this way, the tension between the construction of the modern nation-state and religious traditions is discussed through the concepts of identity, othering, memory, and belonging.
Focusing on the experiences of hafizes during the first quarter-century of the Republic, the book contributes to the debates on modernization, secularization, and social transformation in Turkey. By addressing the historical continuity and social significance of the tradition of Qur’an memorization, it brings the testimonies of the past into the present.