Introduction: Studying Muslim Women in Ethnographic Discourse—A Background

This chapter describes the social and political background and context of ethnographic discourses on women and Islam in Turkey. Extending the scope beyond a mere chronological narrative, it highlights the main developments and milestones in the history of Turkish modernization on a secularization–Islamization axis, from the foundation of the Republic until 2020. It also explains the transformation of the feminist movement and the history of gender and women’s studies as an academic discipline in the country. It then briefly reviews the global context, starting from the end of the Cold War, focusing on cultural transformations, the emergence of local and global Islamist movements and phases of Islamophobia in global politics in the post-9/11 period and the Arab Spring.