Ocak-Based Alevism, Cemevis, and the Reconstruction of Tradition I
This video discusses how Ocak-based Alevism is being reconstituted through contemporary cemevis. Historically, the Ocak system functioned through oral culture and internal community hierarchies. Today, cemevis have become the carriers, practitioners, and transmitters of this tradition.
The video highlights the central role of funeral rites in this transition, as death rituals represent key thresholds through which the moral and social memory of the Alevi path is carried into the future. It also focuses on practical questions, such as how cemevis should be governed and how pir–talip relations can be maintained and renewed through contemporary institutions.
The narration emphasizes the need to protect traditional structures against assimilation, while insisting that this protection should not be static but realized through a dynamic and regenerative mode of transmission.
This recording was made on 10–11 May 2025 at the Dortmund Alevi Cultural Center (DAKME), within the framework of the Pirler–Analar Workshop organized for the Alevi Encyclopedia project by the Rıza Şehri Academy.
The video highlights the central role of funeral rites in this transition, as death rituals represent key thresholds through which the moral and social memory of the Alevi path is carried into the future. It also focuses on practical questions, such as how cemevis should be governed and how pir–talip relations can be maintained and renewed through contemporary institutions.
The narration emphasizes the need to protect traditional structures against assimilation, while insisting that this protection should not be static but realized through a dynamic and regenerative mode of transmission.
This recording was made on 10–11 May 2025 at the Dortmund Alevi Cultural Center (DAKME), within the framework of the Pirler–Analar Workshop organized for the Alevi Encyclopedia project by the Rıza Şehri Academy.
Interviewer
- Editorial Board
