This ethnographic study is on a sacred patrilineage, on the Ulusoy family
members who are widely accepted by the Alevi Bektasi communities as the
descendants of the eponymous founder of the Bektasi Order, Haci Bektas Veli. In line
with the Shi&rsquo / ite tradition, it is claimed that Haci Bektas Veli inherited the batin, the
esoteric aspect of the knowledge and the type of spirituality of this knowledge -
walaya, by genealogical chain traced back to Ahl-al Bayt, and therefore undertook an
initiating and supervisory role over his adherents. As the progeny of Haci Bektas
Veli, the Ç / elebis, namely the Ulusoy family, have also become the heirs of his sacred
authority which was also inherited by their descendant through blood and
transmigration. The Ulusoys have undertaken the role of spiritual guides and leaders
of some other sacred dede (sacred guide) lineages called ocaks, as well as of the
disciples of those ocaks, to regulate and supervise their life in accordance with the
batin, divine knowledge. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation is to explore the
maintenance and reproduction of the hereditary sanctity of the Ulusoy family during
the Republican period during which, due to the secularization and modernization
attempts of the Republic, the sanctity and sacred authority of the family has not been
recognized as a social distinct category. To this end, I firstly examine the historical
background of the family by situating the family in the Ottoman period. Having
found out the continuities and ruptures in exercising of the sacred authority of the
family over the disciples after the establishment of the Republic, I focus on the
transformation of the sanctity and new forms of it by employing the concepts of
space/place / kinship and, gender.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12615070/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 September 2012 |
| Creators | Salman, Meral |
| Contributors | Sen, Mustafa |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Ph.D. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | To liberate the content for METU campus |
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