Alevi-Bektashi Literature as a Discursive Tradition: Interpretive Strategies, Orality, Charisma-Loyalty

ABSTRACT:Focusing on a particular textual and oral tradition of the Ottoman context, that of the Alevi-Bektashi written corpus, this article defines Alevi-Bektashi literature as a discursive tradition and stresses that different types of discourses, literary or otherwise, require different interpretive strategies. Understanding the type of discourse embodied by a given text can inform us on the interpretive communities involved. In the context of Alevi-Bektashi literature, this can help us to characterize the various social contexts of the heterogeneous body of texts at hand. In an aim to map the discursive field, three types of discourses are identified which are adapted from the terminologies proposed by Shahab Ahmed and Markus Dressler. These discourse types—named "prescriptive," "explorative," and "charisma-loyal"—are distinguished in selections from the poetry of seventeenth-century abdal poet Virani. The article proposes a method to combine a close reading of the texts with study of the social contexts in which they are consumed, thus hoping to open room for theoretical perspectives that go beyond disciplinary divisions.