Introduction
After carrying out research, researchers put their findings in writing for purposes of analyzing, referencing, and for further studies, among other reasons. For whatever reason a research paper is written, it should meet some requirements for credibility and authenticity. However, no matter how a researcher tries to compile his or her work, each written paper will have strengths and weaknesses due to one reason or the other.
Critical analysis reveals these elements for the analysis is based on universal analysis parameters like citing literature, research methods used, and meting the objective of the research, among other parameters. This paper critically analyses Modernity, Islam, and Secularism in Turkey by Alev Cinar. As the title suggests, Alev Cinar seeks to establish the place of modernity in contemporary Turkey given the nature of Islam and differing opinions about secularism.
Analysis
This paper is generally well written as Mr. Cinar tries to unravel mysteries surrounding modernism, especially in countries that never went through direct colonization like Turkey. The paper makes a lot of sense as one gets to understand different aspects of modernization. There is an exploration of Islamic countenances that otherwise, are hard to understand, especially for an outsider.
Cinar makes this paper interesting due to his arguments based on well-documented evidence. The captivating nature of this work stems from its authenticity. The depth of the literature review compels the reader to go on and on to establish what other scholars have said about this topic in the past.
The writer, Cinar, identifies research question early in the paper. Research questions appear in the introductory part where they come out as the hypotheses. These hypotheses include; Modernity in Turkey has come after aping what is happening in other European countries.
Moreover, Cinar posits that “Secularism and Islamism are ideologies or political projects that seek to transform and reinstitute a sociopolitical order on the basis of set constitutive norms and principles” (9). These act as explicit hypotheses for they address the objective of the paper. The writer poses other several questions to support the hypotheses put forward making it easy for the reader to identify easily the objective of the study.
The author justifies the relevance of the topic. From the beginning, Cinar points out that many scholars argue that, “modernity is more often perceived as lure than as threat and people everywhere, at every national or cultural site, rise to meet it, negotiate it and appropriate it in their fashion” (Cinar 2). This assumption coupled with the widely accepted notion that modernity is exclusively a postcolonial experience whereby many countries copy their colonies, justifies Cinar’s bid to establish the truth behind these claims.
In scholarly circles, it is important to analyze claims laid down by former scholars to authenticate them. A hypothesis has to undergo rigorous analysis before its acceptance as a theory. Therefore, Cinar justifies the importance of this research by seeking to establish the truth in assumptions that have been made earlier concerning this topic.
The author has extensively reviewed previous research and literature available pertaining to this topic. He reviews theoretical literature and this seems appropriate given the nature of the topic under discussion. After looking into the available literature, the author synthesizes it adequately.
For instance, Cinar states that Serif Mardin showed that modernity, by way of people discarding Islamic code, dated back to the early sixteenth century (Cinar 23). This literature is relevant to the topic for this topic seeks to establish the nature of modernity in Turkey and see whether it has anything to do with European experience. This is only an example of the many literature materials reviewed in this study.
The author carried out literature review research. He extensively reviewed existing literature to draw comparisons and differences about what has been said about this topic. There is the use of case studies documented in the literature. For instance, he reviews a case study where he examines different times where Islamist interventions yielded results in countering secularism with Istanbul as the reference point to determine how modernism has taken root under such circumstances.
The data used here is purely theoretical which is appropriate for this kind of study. In literature review research, there is no use of empirical data. Theoretical data is usually sufficient because this forms the basis of this type of research. The data is collected from both archives and libraries to compare ancient data and contemporary one to come up with informed conclusions. According to the nature of literature review research, this data is effective.
The author does not rely on sample per se not unless we take the available literature materials to be samples. Moreover, the author does not discuss how the data were obtained, probably due to the nature of literal written materials whereby authors do not indicate how they obtained their materials.
There are no statistical or qualitative methods used in this research paper. However, this notwithstanding, the author has managed to answer the research questions posed at the beginning of the report. Cinar draws the conclusion that modernity in Turkey has not been developed by aping other countries; rather, it has come because “of construction of the present as deficient and flawed” (Cinar 29). On the issue of Islamism and secularism, the author concludes that both Islamism and secularism co-exist in Turkey.
Even though there have been several occasions where Islamists have come out to root out secularism, the attempts have borne few or no fruits. These conclusions make sense; first, given the fact that Turkey never underwent direct colonization, it makes sense to conclude that her modernism has come through development not aping. Secondly, there has been the establishment of Christian groups in Turkey so Islamism and secularism are only ideologies subject to change depending on time, body, and place.
This research is relevant and compelling. Cinar managed to achieve the objectives of the research that he sought to establish from the beginning. This paper is very informative for it unearths many issues that have remained as assumptions to the common reader for a long time.
It is compelling as the reader marvels at how modernism developed due to future needs that could not be met without embracing it. It is also thrilling to note that there is a difference between Islamism, Islam, and Islamist, and none is a derivative of the other, whatsoever.
Conclusion
This research paper complies with most of the widely acknowledged parameters of analyzing research papers, viz. well written, hypothesis statement, justification of the research carried, literature review and giving a concrete conclusion restating the validity of the hypothesis among others. The paper is informative and compelling. However, the author does not leave space for further studies, and the insinuation that the results found here are the absolute facts is in bad taste and these posses a weakness to the paper.
Works Cited
Cinar, Alev. “Modernity, Islam, and Secularism in Turkey.” London: University of Minnesota Press, 2005.