köse, t. istanbul şehir üniversitesi,itbf siyaset bilimi ve uluslararasi ilişkiler bölümü, Turkey

Psychocultural dynamics of etho-religious identities: Understanding the emotional dimensions of alevi identity revival in Turkey

25108

Popular discourses on significant historical episodes,collective dramas and especially the negative collective experiences that affect the collective emotions such as fear,humiliation and victimhood,are important dimensions of studies on ethno-religious identities. Shared narratives on massacres,wars,massive scale violence and humiliating collective experiences play roles in the formation and the maintenance of large group identities. The remembrance or reproduction of the emotional elements of ethno-religious identities is the research focus of this study. This study investigates the ways through which the personal and collective emotions such as grief/victimhood,fear and humiliation,interact with each other and influence the Alewi identity negotiation process within the context of post 1980 Turkey. Alewi personal and collective narratives on humiliating experiences are explored through life stories as well as widely shared group narratives. This study argues that the turning points in life stories of the individuals,who belong to the marginalized groups,play significant roles in connecting/ reconnecting the personal experience of humiliation,fear,victimization and anger with the widely shared collective dramas. Marc Howard Ross notions of psychocultural dramas and psycho-cultural interpretations are used to analyze Alewi narratives on collective emotions. Narratives on the victimhood stories are examined with specific focus on the archetypes of villains that embody fears and worries of Alewi citizens.

171

Alewi identity , Collective emotions , Humiliation , Narrative , Psycho , cultural dramas , Victimhood

Turkish Culture and Haci Bektash Veli Research Quarterly

197