Gülen: The Ambiguous Politics of Market Islam in Turkey and the World

by Joshua D. Hendrick

Overview

The "Hizmet" ("Service")
Movement of Fethullah Gülen is Turkey’s most influential Islamic identity
community. Widely praised throughout the early 2000s as a mild and moderate
variation on Islamic political identity, the Gülen Movement has long been a
topic of both adulation and conspiracy in Turkey. In Gülen, Joshua D. Hendrick suggests that the Gülen Movement should
be given credit for playing a significant role in Turkey's rise to global
prominence.


Hendrick draws on 14 months of ethnographic fieldwork
in Turkey and the U.S. for his study. He argues that the movement’s growth and
impact both inside and outside Turkey position both its leader and its
followers as indicative of a "post political" turn in twenty-first
century Islamic political identity in general, and as illustrative of Turkey’s
political, economic, and cultural transformation in particular.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814770801
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	08/12/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Joshua D. Hendrick is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Global Studies at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore. He received his PhD and MA degrees in sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and his MA degree in cultural anthropology from Northern Arizona University.

Table of Contents

ContentsAcknowledgments ixNote on Turkish Transliteration xiiiList of Abbreviations xvIntroduction: The World’s Most Influential 1Public Intellectual1 Approaching Muslim Politics in Turkey 112 The Political Economy of Muslim Politics in Turkey 353 An Ambiguous Leader 564 Community 895 Education 1236 Degirmenin suyu nereden geliyor? (Where does the 144water for the mill come from?)7 Manufacturing Consent 1748 Strategic Ambiguity and Its Discontents (i.e., the 206Gülen Movement in the United States)Conclusion: The Marketization of Muslim 233Politics in TurkeyNotes 243Bibliography 257Index 271About the Author 276

Editorial Reviews

"Dr. Hendrick's study is revealing and topical, and provides an objective, critical and balanced assessment of the Gülen movement. Together with Berna Turam's earlier study of the same movement, it distinguishes itself as one of the very few studies of this topic that meets the strictures of nonpartisan academic scholarship."

Contemporary Islam - Elisabeth Ozdalga

"A valuable study of the Gülen movement, originating in Turkey but spanning theworld, illustrates how it was born out of the social and political climate of modern Turkey but how it integrated Islam and neoliberal globalization to create an ambiguous empire of 'market Islam' including schools, media, and manufacturing."

Anthropology Review Database

"Hendricks work is an important contribution to understanding the ongoing interactions between the contradictory dimensions of globalization and the presence and rise of Islamic movements."

Historian

"In a groundbreaking study, Joshua Hendrick provides us with the first comprehensive and dispassionate analysis of the worldwide Gülen movement. Theoretically sophisticated and brimming with unprecedented empirical insight, this volume will be essential reading for students and researchers in contemporary Islamic Studies as well as those seeking to understand the changing nature of social movements under globalization."

Peter Mandaville

"In light of the political crisis Turkey has been going through in the past year, the publication of Hendricks Gülen could not be timelier. This book examines one of the most controversial figures in the modern Turkish political history, Fethullah Gülen, and his cemaat (community); a well-organized network overseeing schools and educational institutions in more than 100 countries and controlling a global, multi-million dollar operation of & Islamic economy. Hendricks political ethnography provides an outstanding analysis."

Mobilization

"In this path-breaking ethnography of a modern Islamic movement that is educating millions of students across the globe, Hendrick brilliantly explains the strategies of the Gülenphenomena as an intersection of the spiritual and market-driven needs of his followers. This a definitive study of how Muslim modernity is practiced among aspiring Muslim middle classes, an exceptional achievement because Hendrick avoids the twin pitfalls of demonization and cooption. It will become a classic."

Paul M. Lubeck

"[T]here's...much to learn from this book about the enigmatic Gülen and his enigmatic movement."

Hurriyet Daily News - William Armstrong

"Essential reading for anyone interested in current political, economic, and religious trends in modern Turkey. This work is by far the best study to date of one of the most important and interesting Islamic movements of our times. A fascinating book."

Nancy Gallagher

"This new book is a thoughtful and thorough examination of the formation and expansion of the Gülen movement. In presenting an original account of how this religious social movement was established, the author offers an insightful discussion Gülens origins and workings by focusing on its engagement with capitalism, science, technology, education, and secularism."

The Historian

"A helpful and detailed account of a movement that is defined, if such a thing is possible, by obfuscation"

The New York Review of Books - Christopher de Bellaigue

"Hendrick deserves to be commended for analyzing the Gülen movement in a comprehensive fashion. The book, written in an engaging style, covers diverse issues, ranging from the movement's role in changing the balance of power in the Turkish media to its critics in the American charter school system. This timely book is a welcome addition to the growing literature on the Gülen movement."

Ahmet T. Kuru

"Dr. Hendricks study is revealing and topical, and provides an objective, critical and balanced assessment of the Gülen movement Based as it is on thorough information and colorful descriptions, it is an easy read and thus also speaks to a wider audience inside and outside of academia."

Contemporary Islam