Mostar Bridge in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Ahmet Yukleyen
Croft Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
P.O. Box 1848
University, MS  38677-1848

Phone: 662-915-5733
Office: Leavell 107
E-mail:

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Biography
I received my BA in international relations at Bilkent University, Ankara and completed my MA degree at the Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver, where I focused on socio-political development, civil society, and Islamic movements in the Middle East. I received my Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from Boston University in the spring of 2006. My dissertation research focused on Turkish Islamic communities in Germany and the Netherlands. I taught a course on “Islam in the West” at Tufts University in spring 2006.

Research:
My research focuses on how Muslim immigrants interpret and practice their religion in Western Europe. I completed a year long fieldwork among the various Islamic groups in the Netherlands and Germany in 2003-4. Islamic movements active among Muslims in Europe have diverse interpretations of Islam. I examine the various factors (i.e. religious authority, class, ethnicity, state policies etc.) on how Muslims make sense of their religious tradition in Europe.

I co-authored a book published in May 2006, in Turkish titled “Avrupa’da Islam, Laiklik ve Demokrasi,” which analyzes how the state and Muslims approach Islam, secularism, and democracy in France, Germany, and the Netherlands. My research interests include anthropology of religion, ethnicity, Muslims in Europe, Islamic movements, and multiculturalism. I teach two courses for Fall 2006 Semester: “Multicultural Europe: Ethnicity, Religion, and Identity Politics” and “Cultural Anthropology.”

My current project is to compare Muslims in several other countries of Western Europe (i.e. Britain, France, and Belgium) and turn my research findings into further publications.

Publications:
Book:
Secularism, Democracy and Islam in Europe: Muslims in France, Germany, and the Netherlands, co-authored with Ahmet T. Kuru, Turkish Economic and Social Research Foundation (TESEV) Istanbul, February, 2006.

Contextualizing Islam in Europe: Turkish Islamic Communities in Germany and the Netherlands, Syracuse University Press, Under Review.

Journal Articles:
“Compatibility of ‘Islam’ and ‘Europe’: Turkey’s EU Accession” Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No. 1, 2009, pp. 115-131.

“Islam, Conflict and Integration: Turkish Religious Associations in Germany” Turkish Studies, August 2009, co-authored with Gökçe Yurdakul.

“State Policies and Islam in Europe: Milli Görü? in Germany and the Netherlands” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, August 2009.

“Localizing Islam in Europe: Religious Activism among Turkish Islamic Organizations in the Netherlands” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 2009.

“Religious schism or synthesis?” Public Choice, co-authored with Gökhan R. Karahan, forthcoming.

Articles Under Review
“Anthropology of Islamic Authority and Knowledge in Europe” Contemporary Islam, Under Review.
“Ethnicity and Muslim Radicalization in Europe: Salafis in Moroccan and Turkish Islamic Markets in the Netherlands” Ethnic and Racial Studies, Under Review.  

“Turkish Islamic Authority and Knowledge in Europe: The Case of Revolutionary Islamist Kaplan Community” Immigrants and Minorities, Revise and Resubmit.

Book Chapters:
“Sufism and Islamic groups in Contemporary Turkey” in The Cambridge History of Turkey Volume 4, Resat Kasaba ed., Cambridge University Press, 2007

Entries on “Balkan Muslims”, “Tablighi Movement”, “Secularism,” and “Da’wa”, Encyclopedia of Islam in the United States, in Jocelyne Cesari ed., Greenwood Press, 2007.

“Islamophobia and Evangelicals in the United States” in Islamophobia and Anti-Islamism in the West, (in Turkish) Kadir Canatan and Ozcan Hidir ed., Eskiyeni Yayinlari, 2007 (Book Chapter)

“Islamic Civil Society and Social Capital in Turkey” in Diversity Management in Asia: A Research Companion, Mustafa Ozbilgin and Jawad Syed (eds.) Edward Elgar Publishing (2008): Cheltenham and New York (Book Chapter).

Other Publications:
Book review of Senocak, Zafer (2004) Atlas of a Tropical Germany (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press) in The Turkish Studies Association Journal vol. 28 No. 1-2, pp. 171-75.

“Islamic Diversity and Turkish Muslims in Europe” short article, http://science.orf.at (Translated into German) posted on November 8, 2005.

“Islam in Europe” Oxford Bibliography Online, Oxford University Press, 2009, forthcoming. 

Conferences & Workshops
“Piety, Loyalty and Integration: Turkish Islamic Associations in Germany,” co-authored with Gökçe
Yurdakul, Panel titled “(Trans)nationality, Immigration and the Securitization of Islam in Europe,” at Living Islam in Europe: Muslim Traditions in European Contexts Conference and Workshop, Centre for Modern Oriental Studies, Berlin , May 7-9, 2009.

“Redefining Islam and Europe in Turkey’s European Union Membership Process,” Panel titled “Islam
and Politics in Turkey,” International Studies Association, New York City, February 15, 2009. 

“Turkish Immigrants in Europe” Invited Lecture, Year of Turkey Lecture Series, Kennesaw State
University, February 12, 2009.

“Ethnicity and Muslim Radicalization in Europe: Salafis in Moroccan and Turkish Islamic Markets in
the Netherlands,” Panel titled “Youth and Transgression in Europe,” Chair and presenter, American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, November 19-23, 2008.   

“Transnational Turkish Islamic Communities,” 4th Turkish Studies Symposium: Islam, Secularism, and
Democracy in Turkey Today, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, February 28, 2008.

“Anthropology of Islamic Authority and Knowledge in Europe,” Lecture Series at the Center for the
Study of Democracy, Toleration, and Religion; Columbia University, New York City, February 11, 2008.

“Reinterpreting Islam as a Source of Toleration,” International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social
Sciences, Granada, Spain July 10-13 2007.

“Islam and Toleration: The Case of Gulen Community in Europe,” Islam and Europe Conference,
SUNY Stony Brook, April 27, 2007.

“Islamic Authority and Knowledge in Europe: The Case of Revolutionary Islamist Kaplan Community,”
Southern Sociological Society, Atlanta, April 11-14, 2007.

“Localizing Islam in Europe: Turkish Islamic Organizations in Germany and the Netherlands,” Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting, Boston, November 18-21, 2006.

“Role of Islam in European Union-Turkey Relations,” 10th Annual Graduate Student Conference: “Ripple Effects” of the European Project, Georgetown University, Washington DC, February 10-12, 2006. Received best paper award.

“Localizing Islam in Western Europe,” First Islam in the West Conference, Harvard University, December 2, 2005.

“Islamic Organizations and Muslim Integration in the Netherlands,” The International Conference on Islam: Dialogue and Islam, University of Wisconsin, Madison, April 29-30, 2005.

“Comparing State Policies and Muslims in Germany and the Netherlands,” Muslims in Europe Conference, Boston University, April 5, 2005.

“European Forms of Islam in the Making: Turkish Islamic Organizations in the Netherlands,” Incorporating Minorities in Europe: 19th Century to the Present, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studiesat Harvard University, April 16-17, 2004.

“Identity Politics in Turkey and the Nur Movement,” Conference on Critical Citizenship: The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in Civil Society, University of California, San Diego, May 20, 2000.

Courses Taught
ANTH 101 Introductory Cultural Anthropology
            ANTH 303 Cultural Anthropology
            ANTH 317 Islam and Global Politics
            ANTH 316 Muslims in the West

INST 326 Multicultural Europe: Ethnicity, Religion, and Identity Politics
            INST 327 Europe and the Middle East