Staging the <i>Semah</i> s: Performing Aleviness in Turkey and Europe

ABSTRACT The semah , a genre of music and movement practices imbued with values of gender, class, age and ethical egalitarianism, lies at the core of the Alevis' ayn‐i cem rituals. Since the 1970s, processes of urbanisation, migration, folklore production and heritage‐making have facilitated the circulation of semah beyond ritual contexts, particularly within amateur and professional performing arts projects. Focusing on staged and festival performances of the semah , this article examines how embodied learning and theatrical adaptation have contributed to the transnational articulation of Alevi identities. Drawing on long‐term, multisited ethnographic research conducted in Turkey, the United Kingdom and Europe, it analyses theatre and dance productions as well as large‐scale cultural events, revealing distinct layers in the contemporary reimagining and performance of the semah . Adopting a transnational and performance‐based perspective, the discussion explores how Alevi ritual forms have been recovered, preserved and displayed on stage. By foregrounding embodied participation as ethnographic method and by offering a perspective on some of these dramatic adaptations, the article contributes to understanding the contingent and processual dimensions through which Alevi practices are transmitted, reconfigured and publicly negotiated. Particular attention is paid to the politics of visibility in these performances, showing how different modes of staging shape public presence, knowledge production and interpretations across contexts. The article argues that theatrical and festival semah performances constitute key sites for the articulation of Alevi subjectivities and collective identities in transnational contexts.