Across space and time, the construction of religious infrastructures and iconic architectures has been closely associated with projects of political and economic domination. In the Western Balkans, mosques, churches, and the religious and secular infrastructures they engendered have frequently served the interests of imperial powers. Yet, such constructions have rarely been mere instruments of imperial domination. Nation-states, as well as other actors, have strategically employed church- and mosque-building to assert visibility and political sovereignty, promote national unity, and shape both internal politics and foreign relations.
In this online event, Prof. Dr. Kerem Öktem will propose a historical and conceptual framework of how to think about Turkey’s “Mosque-Politics” and then introduce the two speakers. Prof. Dr. Nathalie Clayer will examine the post-Ottoman Balkans and discuss how mosque construction in inter war Albania was mobilized to consolidate both internal politics and foreign relations. Prof. Dr. Rebecca Bryant will explore the more recent (or return) actor Turkey who has been engaging in imperial policies that place large-scale religious infrastructures and ‘fraternal’ domination at their core. Turkish neo-Ottoman mosque-building renders a particular form and historicity of Islam hypervisible in societies where such visibility had long been muted or avoided while they also create new zones of contact and contestation. Together, the two lectures will shed light on their complex symbolism and the political stakes they carry.