Symbols Regarding the Perception of Faith in Indoor and Outdoor Spaces of Alevis in the United Kingdom

Cultures are showcases of symbols. Every culture is the carrier of all the symbols, tangible or intangible, of the community to which it belongs. Here symbols become clusters in which social meanings are hidden over time. However, we now live in a world where the image overrides all kinds of meanings. In such a world, symbols are the first condition of ‘being visible’ for collective cultural identities. Especially for cultural communities living as ‘minorities’ far away from their homeland, ‘being visible’ is no longer only a matter of legitimacy, but also a matter of existence. One of the solutions to this problem for these communities can be said to be the use of symbols in their social spaces. From this point of view, symbols (and the symbolism produced through them) also have some functional features. A similar functionality applies to the meanings of concepts in the mind. Indeed, meaning is not a simple bundle of thoughts living in the mind, but a unifying element that establishes commonalities. Based on many of the findings of a year- long field research in the United Kingdom, this article is interested in the functional characteristics of the symbols used by the Alevi community in the interior and exterior spaces of the Alevi community in this country. The questions of how Alevi identity is constructed, produced and transmitted through cultural symbols in Alevi spaces in the UK constitute the limits of interest of the article. Throughout the study, the discourse analysis method has been chosen as the most appropriate research technique for sub-meaning readings of symbols. The ultimate aim of the following article around this interest is to reveal the symbolic expressions of Alevi identity far from the homeland, thus offering new contributions to the field of Alevism studies.