November 21, 2010

Towards ‘the conference-i kamil’ (2)

İhsan Yılmaz

Gulen Conference
Int. Gulen Conference in Chicago
Last week I started writing about the International Conference on the Gülen Movement held in Chicago, titled “The Gülen Movement: Paradigms, Projects and Aspirations,” and promised to continue this week.

On the second day of the conference, the first panel was titled “Sociological Approaches to the Hizmet Movement” and the speakers were Suveyda Karakaya of the University of Tennessee, Gökhan Bacık of Zirve University, and Muhammed Çetin of East Stroudsburg University.

Karakaya’s paper “Women in the Hizmet Movement: Traditionalists or Modernists?” examines the attitudes of 250 women affiliates from diverse backgrounds -- residing in Turkey and the US -- regarding controversial issues such as women’s access to higher education and employment, dress styles (including the headscarf) and their roles in the movement.