TSN Lecture by Dr. Burcu Kalpaklıoğlu

Tuesday 15 April 2025 | 17.00-18.30 CET (On-Site Lecture) | University of Amsterdam | Bushuis – Oost-Indisch Huis | Room E.102 | Registration not required

This talk discusses the gendered quest for justice among ordinary Muslim women in Istanbul, drawing on their narratives of marital life and the divorce process. Women’s evocations of the polysemic notion of hak- which means rights, justice, truth, share, and due- offer a different scope and ontology of rights that extends beyond the normative, human-centered domain and is shaped by everyday encounters with others and the ultimate authority of God. This moral sense of hak is rooted in relational work and the notion of (in)debtedness, and significantly informs everyday interpersonal transactions in Turkey. It is configured not only through normative orders, legal entitlements, and ideals of sound moral conduct but also through women’s imaginary of divine justice, which they understand as meted out by God, whether in this world or the afterlife. By bringing the anthropology of rights into conversation with the critical anthropology of Islam that has drawn attention to Muslims’ intimate relationship with God, Dr. Kalpaklioglu shifts discussions of rights beyond the state, law, and social movements, foregrounding instead the affective worlds and moral-religious vocabularies through which justice is envisioned and pursued.

About the speaker

Dr. Burcu Kalpaklıoğlu received her doctoral degree from the Anthropology Department at the University of Amsterdam. Her research interests include family and kinship, gender, morality and anthropology of Islam. Her book is published in Turkish Fetvayla Yol Göstermek: Alo Fetva Hattı, Vaizeler, Gündelik Hayat Tavsiyeleri (Guiding through Fatwas: Hello Fatwa Hotline, Female Preachers and Their Advice on Everyday Life Issues).