Review by Choice Review
White (anthropology, Boston Univ.) challenges the scholarly literature on civil society with her argument that informal women's networks and neighborhood organizations in Istanbul are a key to understanding the strength of Islamist parties in Turkey. White calls this process--indicative of a populist democratic culture invisible if investigated through a model of formal civic organizations--"vernacular politics." Based on study of a working-class neighborhood in Istanbul and two local groups (one Islamist, one secular), the book stands as welcome anthropological reportage, given the recent assumption of office of the Islamist Justice and Development Party in Turkey. Amidst Western reporting of a secular-religious divide in that country, White portrays a fluid situation in which markers of being Islamist, such as dress, vary widely depending on class and generation. Many Islamists are more tolerant than secularists of those in their milieu who do not adhere to their norms; there is a Kemalist secular ideology, but no one Islamist ideology. The book lacks a strong theoretical or comparative base, but it is an engaging, highly personal account of value to students as well as scholars of local, especially feminist, politics. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. C. D. Smith University of Arizona
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
