The Revival of Islam in the Balkans / Islam and Nationalism (PDF)

Arolda Elbasani, Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Studies, Florence, Italy Cecilie Endresen, University of Oslo, Norway Julianne Funk, University of Zurich and Research Consultant for the Ecumenical Women's Initiative in Croatia Jeton Mehmeti, University of Prishtina and Senior Researcher at GAP Institute, Kosovo Andreja Mesari?, independent researcher based in London Laura J. Olson, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA Olivier Roy, Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Studies, Florence, Italy Behar Sadriu, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK Alexandros Sakellariou, Panteion University, Athens, Greece Enis Sulstarova, University of Tirana, Albania Jelena To i?, University of Vienna, Austria Ksenia Trofimova, Russian Academy of Sciences Anna Zadro?na, Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey

'The editors of this timely addition to the scholarship are to be commended for bringing together such a stellar example of the cutting-edge research the study of Islam in the Balkans requires in this era of rapidly changing conditions for Muslims and their fellow countrymen. In eleven well-crafted studies on various themes related to the rapidly changing dynamics within Muslim communities in the Balkans, the reader is offered access to the state-of-the-art scholarship on Islam. The particularly close focus on hitherto ignored actors in the forging of new kinds of Muslim communities in face of hostility from the larger world is especially welcome considering these will be the likely agents for positive co-habitation and trust-building measures in the future. It is especially commendable that the editors invited scholars wishing to shed further light on how Muslim women in particular try to strengthen their role in shaping the future of their communities. The fact that such efforts are complicated by the often confused debates about the ethno-national and/or universalist character of Albanian, Roma, Bosnian, and Bulgarian Muslim existence in their homelands promises to positively inform scholars for years to come on how to best disentangle the study of religiosity in the Balkans from the crude references made to the larger 'war on terror.' The Revival of Islam in the Balkans is highly recommended as both a resource for specialists in the study of Islam-in-the-Balkans and a valuable tool to introduce to graduate students.' Dr. Isa Blumi, Associate Professor of History, Georgia State University, USA



'This volume offers rich empirical insights into the diverse forms of lived religiosity amongst Balkan Muslims, convincingly arguing for a paradigm shift that decouples religion from the ethno-national grids of identity and focuses instead on the individual re-imaginations and personalized practices emerging outside the institutional control of official