Maps and the Alevis: On the Ethnography of Heterodox Islamic Groups

Abstract

This article introduces the collection by offering a series of thoughts as to why the study of heterodox groups within Islam has been so comparatively overlooked. It suggests that one of the most important reasons is a mistaken adherence in contemporary society to seeing cultures as a coherent whole rather than an ever-shifting process of complex contradictions. Amongst further reasons may be insufficient fieldwork, an over-reliance on textual scholarship, and a lack of sensitivity toward the possibility of diverse social organisation within Islamic societies. It attempts to put the Alevis ‘on the map’ by offering a preliminary sequence of four maps after Andrews (1989) showing the distribution of: 1) Alevis in general; 2) Turkish Alevis; 3) Kurdish-speaking Alevis; and 4) Zaza Alevis.