From Symbolic Exile to Physical Exile
Title
From Symbolic Exile to Physical Exile
Subtitle
Turkey’s Imam Hatip Schools, the Emergence of a Conservative Counter-Elite, and its Knowledge Migration to Europe
Price
€ 41,95 excl. VAT
ISBN
9789089645081
Format
Paperback
Number of pages
148
Language
English
Publication date
Dimensions
15.6 x 23.4 cm
Table of Contents
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The book provides information and analysis about a Turkish student community in different locations in Europe, especially in Vienna and Sarajevo. Graduates of Turkish Imam-Hatip High Schools, public schools that offer a combination of a religious and scientific curriculum, choose Europe for their university education because they were excluded from universities in Turkey by secular elites of the country. This book tries to explore the story of European Imam-Hatip graduates with references to Turkish modernization. With an extensive historical background of Turkish modernization, religious conservatism and Imam-Hatip High Schools in Turkey; the relationship between Turkish conservatives and Imam-Hatip Schools, the role of these schools in the social upward mobilization of religiously conservatives, the conservative modernization that took place with the help of Imam-Hatip Schools are just some questions of the book that were asked for exploring and analyzing European Imam-Hatip graduates.|From Symbolic Exile to Physical Exile tells the story of Imam-Hatip graduates and their knowledge migration to Europe. Since these pious Muslims were prevented from entering Turkish universities by a secular elite fearful of losing its control of state and society, many of them have sent their best and brightest to European (and American) universities. They have thus formed a potential counter-elite, preparing themselves for leading roles in Turkey on their return. Until now, the existence of this transnational Imam Hatip network has gone unnoticed in academic studies. Çaglar fills this gap by tracing the development and expansion of the Imam-Hatip Schools, institutions that offer a combination of a religious and scientific curriculum. Through interviews with numerous students and alumni, Çaglar maps transnational branches of this influential network in Vienna, Sarajevo, the Netherlands and Germany. This research therefore is an important contribution to the study of Turkish transnational religious movements.

Ismail Caglar

From Symbolic Exile to Physical Exile

Turkey’s Imam Hatip Schools, the Emergence of a Conservative Counter-Elite, and its Knowledge Migration to Europe

he book is about Turkish Imam-Hatip High School graduates enrolled in European universities. There is not any other publication about this student group Gives an extensive history background of Turkish modernization and religiously conservatives. In this historical background the book tries to follow a social history methods that focuses on local peoples’ responses to Turkish modernization Analyses Imam-Hatip Schools as a channel of upward social mobilization of Turkish religiously conservatives and as a result attempts to tell the story of conservative modernization that is parallel to secular Turkish modernization.
Author

Ismail Caglar

Ismail Çaglar is lecturer at the Sociology Department of Fatih University in Istanbul.