Second Workshop of Pirs and Anas Held in Dersim
The Alevi Encyclopedia’s first event in Turkey, the Second Workshop of Pirs and Anas, brought together academics, pirs and anas in Dersim. Discussions focused on how Alevism is lived across different communities, digital memory initiatives and the transmission of faith between generations.
As part of the workshop dated 5–6 September 2026, the panel programme held on 5 September at the Hüseyin Güntaş Library and Conference Hall opened with Ana Raime Kızılkan lighting the ritual lamp (çerağ) and Pir İbrahim Kete reciting a gülbenk.
In the first session, entitled “Alevi Encyclopedia: The Digital Memory of Alevism’s Many Voices”, Dr Hayal Hanoğlu outlined the Encyclopedia’s founding aims, scholarly approach, editorial structure and working methods. She emphasised the importance of making visible the diverse forms of Alevism shaped across different regions, ocaks and communities, and of bringing oral and written sources into dialogue with academic research and the experiences of living communities.
Dr Sönmez Alvanoğlu Yolcu discussed the historical and social origins of Arab Alevism, its geographical contexts, and its religious and everyday practices. She considered the transmission of cultural memory and traditions between generations in relation to communities’ contemporary experiences. Dr Ozan Doğan examined Roma Alevis’ historical, social and cultural relationships with Alevism through questions of identity, belonging and everyday life. He highlighted the importance of documenting their oral culture and distinctive experiences and increasing their visibility in academic research.
Associate Professor İhsan Koluaçık addressed representations of Alevism in traditional and digital media. Exploring their implications for identity and public visibility, he discussed the opportunities offered by social media and digital platforms for Alevis to share their own voices and experiences. His presentation also considered stereotypical narratives and the limited representation of Alevism’s internal diversity in the media.
In the second session, “Alevi Research in the Context of Digital Knowledge Production”, Dr Ahmet Kerim Gültekin discussed the importance of connecting bodies of knowledge dispersed across different regions and languages. He described the Alevi Encyclopedia as a project that brings together academic research, local knowledge and oral memory, continually developing through new documents and testimonies. He emphasised the need to take account of different Alevi communities’ own concepts and worlds of meaning.
Professor Markus Dressler and Dr Hayal Hanoğlu introduced the project “Alevi Archive: The Ethnohistory of Alevi Communities in Anatolia, Sixteenth–Twentieth Centuries”. Dressler outlined an approach that foregrounds Alevi communities’ historical agency and examines ocak, tribal and village structures through historical and ethnographic methods. Hanoğlu presented research on Alevi settlements, migration and relations between communities, alongside work to develop a digital database and research infrastructure.
Professor Ayfer Karakaya Stump focused on the historical heritage preserved by families, ocaks and dervish lodges as part of the Alevi-Bektashi Digital Archive Project. She explained the importance of safeguarding documents, photographs, letters, and audio and video recordings against loss and making them accessible. Gültekin and Karakaya Stump participated online.
The final session, “The Path, Tradition and Continuity”, featured Pir İbrahim Kete, Pir Kazım Açıktepe and Ana Raime Kızılkan. Discussions addressed sustaining the Alevi path and its ritual practices, relations between pirs and talips, and the transmission of faith to younger generations. Pir İbrahim Kete called for solidarity, emphasising the strengthening of ocaks, self-criticism and shared responsibility.
By bringing Alevi communities’ living knowledge and experiences into dialogue with academic research, the workshop provided a shared forum for discussing the preservation of cultural memory and its transmission to future generations.
