National politics and cultural sustainability: the case of the Mevlevi Sema ceremony of Turkey

Drawing on 12 in-depth interviews with relevant stakeholders, this study focuses on the case of Mevlevi Sema Ceremony of Turkey in its aim to investigate the relationship between intangible heritage preservation and national politics. The Sema Ceremony is a religious ritual central to the Mevlevi Sufi order founded in Konya (Turkey) in the 13(th) century. Due to the secularization reforms that outlawed the Sufi orders in 1925, Sema performances were prohibited in Turkey for about thirty years. Although the Sufi lodges and their activities are still illegal in Turkey, the ceremony was revitalized as a tourist spectacle after the 1950s. While the ceremony is widely popular and frequently performed at present, concerns over the gradual loss of its initial religious meaning led to its proclamation as intangible heritage by UNESCO in 2005. Claiming that the issues concerning the sustainability of cultural practices are intimately tied up with national political processes, this study examines the ways in which the sustainability of the Mevlevi Sema Ceremony is influenced by Turkey s secularization policies.