[Bilimsel Haber] CONFERENCE: BEKTASHISM BETWEEN RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT AND ESTABLISHED RELIGION

[Gonul Pultar]

International Symposium
BEKTASHISM BETWEEN RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT AND ESTABLISHED RELIGION

With special support from
University Institute of Advanced Studies,
U.S. Embassy & UNESCO National Commission

Convenor: Prof. Dr. Albert Doja,
Member of the Albanian Academy of Sciences

Venue: Faculty of Social Sciences, European University of Tirana
23-24 October 2009

Recent work on Bektashism demonstrates an innovative and well -argued
approach, according to which the system of beliefs and practices related 
to Bektashism seems to have corresponded to a kind of liberation 
theology, whereas the structure of Bektashi groups corresponded more or 
less to the type of religious organization conventionally known as 
charismatic groups. If this is the case, their spiritual tendency could 
at times connect with and meet social, cultural and national 
perspectives. It is the overall combination of these factors that seems 
to cast heterodox mystics and heretics of any kind as non-conformist and 
often dangerous for the political establishment, as was the case with 
the Bektashis as much in Ottoman Anatolia and Modern Turkey as in 
Albania. However, in other circumstances, they may become politically 
compliant and reliable, depending on political situations. In this case, 
when members of the previously persecuted religious minority will 
acquire a degree of religious and political respectability within 
society at large, the doctrines of heterodoxy and liberation theology 
fade into the background. In the end, the heirs of the heterodox 
promoters of spiritual reform and social movement turn into followers 
and faithful defenders of a legitimate authority. They become the 
spokespeople for an institutionalized orthodoxy whose support is sought 
by the political regime.

Programme Timetable

22 October 2009
18.00-20.00 Book presentation and Welcome reception

23 October 2009
09.00-10.00 Registration
10.00-10.30 Opening Session
10.30-12.30 Panel I: ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY
12.30-14.30 Lunch break
14.30-17.00 Panel II: STATE AND POLITICS

24 October 2009
09.00-11.00 Panel III: IDENTITY AND MEMORY
11.00-11.30 Coffee break
11.30-13.30 Panel IV: ARTS AND REPRESENTATIONS
13.30-14.30 Lunch break
14.30-17.00 Panel V: HISTORIES AND LEGACIES
17.00-19.00 Farewell Session

25 October 2009
08.00-18.00 Excursion to Kruja, Berat and Vlora


Detailed Programme

OPENING SESSION
Opening Address: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Enika Abazi , Dean of the Faculty of 
Social Sciences, European University of Tirana

Welcome Address: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Adrian Civici , Rector of the European
University of Tirana


I. ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY
Chair: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Enika Abazi

Prof. Dr. Albert Doja, Member of the Albanian Academy of Sciences
 From Confraternal Religion to Instrumental Theology: ideological 
reversal between heterodoxy and orthodoxy in the pol itical history of 
Bektashism.

Prof. Dr. Enzo Pace, Dept. of Sociology, U. of Padova, Italy, and
Ass. Prof. Dr. Fatma Sündal, Dept. of Sociology, Anadolu U., Eskisehir, 
Turkey
Inner-world mysticism and the production of social cap ital in Bektashism.

Dr. Mark Soileau, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Albion 
College, Michigan, U.S.A.
 From Cult to Tarikat: The Formation of Bektashism in the Vilayetname of 
Haji Bektash.

Nazli Ozkan, Comparative Study in History and Society, Koc University,
Istanbul, Turkey
Anthropology of Alevism in Turkey: Dealing with the Orthodoxy-Heterodoxy 
Issue.

Discussant: Dr. David Shankland


II. STATE AND POLITICS
Chair: Dr. David Shankland

Dr. Nathalie Clayer, CNRS, France
Institutionalisation and Bektashi Religious Authority in 
Twentieth-Century Albania.

Prof. Dr. Bernd Fischer, Full Professor and Chair, Department of 
History, Indiana University, Fort Wayne, U.S.A.
Religion and the State in Albania

Dorian Koçi, UFO University, Tirana, Albania
The relationship of Bektashism to culturalist and nationalist movements.


Gizem Kaşoturacak, PhD Candidate, History Department, Sabanci 
University, Istanbul, Turkey
The relations between the Ottoman State and heterodox tekkes: A case 
study on the the Tekke of Abdal Musa.

Ass. Prof. Dr. Bülent Bilmez , Department of History, Bilgi University,
Istanbul, Turkey
The closure of the central Bektashi dergah in Turkey (1925) and its
consequences.

Discussant: Dr. Domna Michail


III. IDENTITY AND MEMORY
Chair: Prof. Dr. Enzo Pace

Dr. David Shankland, Reader of Social Anthropology, University of 
Bristol, U.K.
Alevi-Bektashi relations: an example village from rural Anatolia .

Dr. Fotini Tsimpiridou, Asst. Prof. of Social Anthropology,
Dept. of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies, Macedonia U., 
Thessaloniki, and Dr. Giorgos Mavrommatis, Lecturer of Educational 
History, Dept. of Education Sciences, Democritus U. of Thrace, Greece
Bektashi Identity politics and fieldwork experiences: challenging
"heterodoxy", "difference" and "tradition."

Dr. Domna Michail and Antonis Koutsoumbas, Lecturer of Social 
Anthropology, University of Western Macedonia, Florina, Greece
Bektashi Islamic tradition in Western Thrace-Greece: an ethnographic
observation of the Bektashi practices among the Pomaks of Xanthi.

Vladislava Spasova Ilieva, PhD student, Institut des Langues et Cultures 
de la Méditerranée et du Proche-Orient, CCHS, Consejo Superior de
Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
Demir Baba dans la reconstruction de la mémoire chez la population du 
nord-est de la Bulgarie.

Discussant: Dr. Mark Soileau


IV. ARTS AND REPRESENTATIONS
Chair: Prof. Dr. Gianclaudio Macchiarella

Prof. Dr. Gianclaudio Macchiarella , Professor of Medieval Art History 
and Director, Centre for Balkan Studies, Ca'Foscari U. of Venice, Italy
The cultural heritage of Delvina (Southern Albania): a Bektashi 
architectural enclave.

Prof. Maurizio Boriani and Mariacristina Giambruno, Department of
Architectural Design, Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy
The architectural Islamic complexes in the area of Delvina: A problem of
conservation, protection and valorization of Albanian cultural heritage.

Massimiliano Fusari, PhD researcher, Ca'Foscari U. of Venice, Italy
Forms of representations of the Albanian Bektashi: A visual 
anthropological research.

Inis Shkreli and Armand Zaçeliçi, Centre for Albanian Studies, Tirana
Music as an aspect of inter -religious harmony: The role of Bektashi and
Orthodox communities in the urban music of Elbasan (XIX and the early XX 
century)

Dr. Ali Akbar Ziaee, International Institute of Islamic Thought and
Civilization, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The Mysticism and Bektashism of the Albanian national poet Naim Frasheri

Discussant: Dr. Fotini Tsimpiridou


V. HISTORIES AND LEGACIES
Chair: Prof. Dr. Bernd Fischer

Sibel Imren, Graduate student, History Department, Middle East Technical
University, Ankara, Turkey
Bektashism in the early Turkish Republic: An Overview.

Stephen Schwartz, Independent Scholar, Washington, U.S.A.
The Harabati Teqe in Tetova Under Sunni Fundamentalist Attack.

Ass. Prof. Dr. Fatih Usluer, TOBB University of Economics and 
Technology, Ankara, Turkey
Hurufism among Albanian Bektashis .

Abdülkadir Yeler, PhD Student, Department of Sociology of Religion, 
Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey
Alawism and Jafarism in Turkey: Similarities and Differences .

Mehmet Tütüncü, Independent scholar, The Netherlands.
Traces of Bektashism in Tunisia and Algeria .

Discussant: Dr. Nathalie Clayer


FAREWELL SESSION
Chair: M. Besnik Mustafaj, National Coordinator, Albanian Forum for the
Alliance of Civilizations

Farewell Address and Presentation of the National Strategy for the 
Alliance of Civilizations.

Distribution of Certificates and Farewell Cocktail



Prof. Dr. Albert Doja, H.D.R.
Member of the Academy of Sciences
Professor of Sociology & Anthropology
European University of Tirana, Albania

Phone: +355-686038335
Email: albert.doja at ul.ie <mailto:albert.doja at ul.ie>

http://www.researcherid.com/rid/C-1637-2008
<http://www.researcherid.com/rid/C-1637-2008>




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