Healing Secular Life: Loss and Devotion in Modern Turkey

Abstract

Christopher Dole’s book Healing Secular Life: Loss and Devotion in Modern Turkey presents a nuanced exploration of religious healing practices in modern Turkey, challenging the conventional secular-Islamic dichotomy. The study examines how these practices have persisted and evolved despite secular reforms in Republican Turkey, particularly during the turbulent 1990s. Dole argues that religious therapeutic traditions offer insights into the complex interplay between secularism, politics, and culture. The book is praised for its ethnographic depth, theoretical innovation, and ability to capture intimate social, cultural, and political textures. It fills a critical gap in anthropological literature on Turkey, blending medical anthropology, socio-political analysis, and cultural studies. By focusing on religious healers like Zohre Ana and Ibrahim, Dole complicates simplistic understandings of secularism and offers a fresh perspective on Turkish modernity.

(The abstract and keywords were prepared retrospectively for indexing purposes using AI-assisted tools and editorial review, based on the original article. They did not appear in the original publication.)