Department of Sociology and Anthropology Colloquium
& Book Launch in collaboration with Critical Social Research Collaborative
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
3:00pm – 5:00pm
A715 Loeb Building, Carleton University
Reception to Follow
The AKP Years in Turkey: Neoliberalism with a Muslim Face
Prof. Simten Coşar
(Visiting Speaker from Turkey)
Book Launch:
Silent Violence: Neoliberalism, Islamist Politics and the AKP Years in Turkey
Edited by Simten Coşar & Gamze Yücesan-Özdemir
Ottawa: Red Quill Books, 2012
Abstract:
Although a global phenomenon, neoliberal capitalism has evolved with
different facets and through varying and at times contradictory
alliances from region to region. Aside from the generalized division
between the “developed” and the “developing” worlds, it has so far also
managed to manipulate the contextual dynamics from within the developing
world, thus, working in alternative routes. In this respect, and
specifically in the Turkish context, this alternative route has been
built upon Islamist politics. This paved a way to the rise of the Adalet
ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, AKP) as the
victorious political party in the 2011 general elections for the third
time since 2002. This lecture depicts the party’s successful
manipulation of neoliberal politics with Islamic sensitivities to
understand how neoliberal capitalism was manifested on Turkish lands.
Professor Simten Coşar
is currently teaching in the Department of Political Science and
International Relations at Başkent University, Ankara, Turkey. She is
specialized in political theory with a focus on liberal thought. Her
current research projects include understanding the construction of
gender typologies in Turkish political thought. She has published
extensively on Turkish liberalism, covering both intellectual dimension
and party politics, center-right politics, women’s movement in Turkey,
both in Turkish and English. Her articles appeared, among others, in
Monthly Review, Journal of Third World Studies, Journal of Political
Ideologies, Contemporary Politics, South European Society and Politics,
and Feminist Review. She worked as a visiting professor in the Women's
Studies Program at Northeastern University in Fall 2006. In Winter 2007,
she was a Fulbright Visiting Specialist at Northern Michigan University
within the scope of the program “Direct Access to Muslim World”. In
Fall 2009 Coşar worked as a Visiting Research Fellow at Northern
Michigan University within the scope of the Fulbright Collaborative
Research and Lecturing Award.
**This lecture is co-organized by Critical Social Research Collaborative (www.csrcproject.ca), Department of Sociology and Anthropology Colloquium Series Committee, and Red Quill Books.