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AbstractThe present study examines the recent ideological and cultural apparatuses aimed at the Islamization of children in Turkey through the example of the Children's Magazine, published periodically by the Directorate of Religious Affairs (DRA). Since 2002, under the Islamist government in Turkey, the Directorate of Religious Affairs has progressively evolved into an ideological apparatus that operates in alignment with the government's social objectives. The DRA, supported by significant state funding, has become an institution that holds discussions on matters of family, children, youth, and gender. Seeking to align the government's ideological goals with the Islamization of society, the Directorate of Religious Affairs has placed special emphasis on cultural policies, media, and publishing. The Children's Magazine is one of the monthly publications produced by the Directorate of Religious Affairs, which has evolved into a significant cultural enterprise. The magazine conveys a religious pedagogy rooted in Sunni Hanafi Islam and a nationalist‐conservative family ideology. It not only reinforces the prevailing ideology on religious matters but also promotes the political strategies of the government and the newly established official historical narrative.

This study reveals how the child's body was categorized in the historical process. Throughout history, discussion sabout the child's body have also affected the definition sabout childhood. The claim that childhood was not considered as a separate category from adulthood in the Middle Ages was based on the perceptions about the child's body (disguise, age, etc.) by historians. The idea that limiting the child's body to a chronological period or the idea that it is the natural reflection of adulthood makes it difficult to grasp the contrary practices of childhood, ranging from innocence to evil. For this reason, the concepts of field, capitaland habitus used by the Pierre Bourdieu are recommended as theoretical tools to analyze children's practices better. In this way, it is aimed to discuss the child's body andchild'sworld from a relational perspective. According to Bourdieu, habitus begins in childhood and childhood is at the center of sociality that structures perception, thoughts and practices. The habitus of childhood is built with the practices of institutions that turn to the body, especially the family and school. Simultaneously with this construction, childhood is established as an autonomous area, and socializes as an active subject.The research suggests that the sociological potential of childhood can be analyzed by Bourdieu's conceptualization of "autonomous space", acting on the fact that childhood has been interpreted as opposed to innocence to evil throughout history.