The Turkish Alphabet Reform and the Alevi Tradition – The End of a Manuscript Culture?

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Raoul Motika
• Subject Area: Islamic Studies, Arabian Studies, Semitic Studies
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 439403168

This project investigates how the manuscript culture that existed among Alevi communities in rural Anatolia transformed within the context of widespread literacy and the printed word. Particular attention is paid to changes linked with reforms in the late Ottoman Empire and in the early Republic of Turkey. Based on specific cases, the project analyses how the availability of mass-produced stationery or the Turkish alphabet reform from Perso-Arabic to Latin characters, for example, impacted on manuscript production in Alevi villages. Furthermore, it examines developments connected with manuscript use that began once the handwritten tradition died out in the 1950s.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants