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Accepted Paper:
Religious and national imaginaries of Turkey-Africa relations
Paula Schrode
(University of Bayreuth)
Paper short abstract:
This paper will analyse Turkish activities in sub-Saharan Africa as an important element in the reinvention of Turkish-Muslim identity in the AKP era.
Paper long abstract:
In this paper, I will argue that Turkish activities in sub-Saharan Africa are an important element in the reinvention of Turkish-Muslim identity in the AKP era. Using the discourse of a Turkish Islamic NGO and interviews with its members, I aim to show how their work is charged with meaning through references to Islam and the Turkish nation and how this feeds into a broader political discourse. While Turkish foreign policy is commonly understood as a strategy to build soft power abroad, I will emphasise the processes of identity construction among activists that align with the government's visions of a pious nation playing a central role in the Islamic world.