Women, Religion and Beliefs in Northeast Turkey

This paper aims to explore women’s religious experience in Northeast Turkey through a detailed description of one sermon (vaaz) witnessed by the author in 1992. It will be argued that the beliefs of small-town and rural women constituting ‘folk’, ‘popular’ or ‘grassroots’ Islam rather than ‘official’ Islam, are shaped by various, often contradictory forces. These include distinctive features of the local cultures and family traditions, but also religious broadcasts on television and radio, Islamic publications, and a range of informal religious services.