Living Islam : women, religion and politicization of culture in Turkey /

Saktanber, a Turkish Muslim woman who teaches sociology and women's studies in Turkey, conducted ethno-sociological research in 1989 and the early 1990s in a middle- and lower-middle-class housing complex in a suburb of Ankara, Turkey's capitol. Emerging as a secular regime in the 1920s, Turkey placed religious practice under state observation and control, except for that occurring in the private sphere (which expanded as a result). The author examines how Islamic activists formed a living Islam by politicizing culture in an urban environment. Seeing gender inequalities as a fundamental problem in society, she is particularly interested in how women created an Islamic way of life in an urban context where Islamic revivalism has been prominent. Nearly half of the book offers background discussion, which provides a welcome review of the last several decades of literature on the intersection of Islam, gender, and rapid social change (especially modernization), particularly as these factors relate to Turkey. Saktanber introduces useful historical and contemporary comparisons between Turkey and the neighboring Islamic Republic of Iran, where a different sort of state and society exist. The volume contains some tables and a good bibliography. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. L. Beck Washington University