The presentation will focus on how Turkey’s Diyanet narrative regarding Islamophobia is transferred to Turkish Muslim communities living abroad and what Islamophobia reveals about current circulation of “political remittances”. Political remittances encompass the transfer of ideas, vocabulary and practices as a result of migrants’ engagement in homeland politics. As a pluridirectional flow, they are shaped by contexts in sending and receiving places. In Austria, where laws and dispositions have recently affected Muslim communities, Islamophobia act as a common sense which substantially influences narratives of belonging. The work draws on the analysis of Diyanet’s TV programs and publications concerning Islamophobia, on interviews with Diyanet officers and with women preachers serving in Austria Diyanet’s mosques.
Chiara Maritato is Post-doc Assistant Professor at the Centre for Southeast European Studies (CSEES), University of Graz. Her research project investigates the role of the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet)’s women officers in governing Turkish diaspora in Europe.