An Exploration into the Formations of a Ghost: Gendered Terrains of Circassian Diaspora Nationalism in Turkey

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the gendered formations of Circassian diaspora nationalism in Turkey, a ghost of the 19th and 20th centuries. Based on in-depth interviews conducted with diaspora nationalists, it discusses the gendered constructions of diaspora nationalism through which Circassian diaspora nationalism connects itself and the diaspora to the host community and homeland and differentiates itself and the diaspora from both. This article explores the myth of “an almost matriarchal society” and the very gendered and yet apparently gender neutral project of return and discourses on in-between-ness and transnationalism as elements in the toolbox of Circassian diaspora nationalism.