Religious Studies Faculty Forum: Semiha Topal (ASU)

"Building a Pious Self in Secular Settings: Modern Muslim Women in Turkey"

Thursday, Feb. 23, Noon - 1:30 p.m.

This event is sponsored by: Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies
College of LIberal Arts and Sciences
Location: Coor Hall 4403
Campus: Tempe
Cost: Free and open to the public

In her presentation, Religious Studies graduate student Semiha Topal will share the results of her field study in several pious women's associations and civil society platforms, and the details of her interviews with pious women holding various careers in institutions or disciplines established on secular norms.

Semiha Topal is a doctoral candidate in Religious Studies at Arizona State University. She holds an MA degree in Gender Studies and Religion from SOAS, University of London, and a BA degree in English Language and Literature from Fatih University in Turkey. Her research interests include self-cultivation and piety, religion in public sphere, secularism, modernity and gender. She has recently published her article "Everybody Wants Secularism-But Which One? Contesting Definitions of Secularism in Contemporary Turkey" in the “International Journal of Politics Culture and Society” (Dec 2011). Her doctoral dissertation, "Building a Pious Self in Secular Settings: Pious Professional Women in Turkey" focuses on the everyday life experiences of pious female professional working at secular institutions, and questions their ways of dealing with the secularist regime and their personal pious lifestyles rooted in the religious tradition of Islam in Turkey.