Roman Aleviler (Romani Alevis) – Ozan Doğan
In Roman Aleviler, published by İletişim Yayınları, Ozan Doğan brings to light the striking reality of the Romani Alevis, who stand at the overlooked intersection of Turkey’s Alevi and Romani communities. Based on fieldwork carried out in Uşak, the book offers a powerful account of social truth, revealing the strategies of survival that Romani Alevis have developed in the face of discrimination reproduced through similar codes.
“The ways in which Alevi Roma confront relations of domination (considering that they are excluded by Alevis of different ethnic origins) go beyond even double domination. Kurdish or Arab Alevis who are excluded by Turkish Alevis, for instance, may in turn exclude a Romani Alevi when they encounter one. It can therefore be said that there is no meaningful difference between being Roma among Alevis and being Roma in Turkey, since similar codes can be seen at work in both spheres. On the other hand, relations of domination also exist within Alevi Romani communities themselves.”
Ozan Doğan sheds light on the reality of the Romani Alevis, a little-known community among both Alevis and Roma in Turkey. Romani Alevis are a striking example of layered exclusion – in other words, of exclusion even among the excluded: they are “every group’s scapegoat”. They are subject to a domination that led one of them to say: “We are neither citizens, nor Muslims, nor Alevis. Nobody cares about us.”
Based on fieldwork in Uşak, the book also examines the characteristics of the different groups within the community whose lives and rituals it describes (blacksmiths, sieve makers, basket weavers, abdals). Nor does it overlook the strategies Romani Alevis use to cope with the exclusion they face, and their struggle to exist.
