Recasting Anthropological Perspectives on Vernacular Islam in Southeast Europe

Abstract

When Tone Bringa published Being Muslim the Bosnian Way in 1995, the book soon became the hallmark of anthropological studies of Islam in Southeast Europe. In the wake of the tragic events in Bosnia-Herzegovina ensuing from the breakdown of Yugoslavia, it provided much needed intimate insights into the complex entanglement of religion, politico-religious symbolism and identitarian politics in the wartorn country. Furthermore, it complicated the immediate proliferation of the ‘quick solution’ paradigms – clash of civilisations, or ‘old’ ethnic hatred – that had been adopted with ease by many international and local politicians, as well as by scholars working in the region, and that soon became the mainstream of academic discourse during and especially in the years after the war.

Islam in the post-Communist Balkans: alternative pathways to God

“…Mixed identity choices are frequent, particularly in peripheral settings where ecclesiastical organizations and state institutions are less powerful in reaching and determining believers' preferences. The more one moves out of and away from centrally organized religious machinery, the more one observes Muslim 'anomalies'ethno-religious fusion, heterodox practices, cultural diffusion and plural forms of belonging and believing (Henig and Bielenin-Lenczowska 2013). As Duijzings notes: 'there is always friction between the ideal ethno-religious models or ideologies produced by states and religious regimes, and the social reality to which they refer ' (2000, 25).…”

“…The dissolution of the former Yugoslavia and the ferocity of conflicts and violence, moreover, have confined research to the most striking cases and particular moments in time (Poulton and Taji-Farouki 1997, 1). Consequently, the exploration of the Islamic phenomenon is left to the mercy of nationalist and post-conflict paradigms, which necessarily essentialize the revival of Islam according to the ethno-religious divisions of the day (Henig and Bielenin-Lenczowska 2013). However, the liberalization of religious conduct, and the normalization of the political arena in the two decades since the fall of Communism has unleashed a myriad of new encounters between believers and nationally envisaged religious categories and roles.…”

The Revival of Islam in the Post-Communist Balkans: Coercive Nationalisms and New Pathways to God

“…Mixed 'identities' are frequent, particularly in peripheral settings where ecclesiastical organizations and state institutions are less powerful in terms of how they reach and determine believers' preferences. Hence, the more one moves out of and away from centrally controlled religious machinery, the more one observes Muslim 'anomalies'ethno-religious fusion, heterodox practices, cultural diffusion and plural forms of belonging and believing (Bringa 1995;Ghodsee 2010;Henig and Bielenin-Lenczowska 2013). As Duijzings puts it: 'there is always friction between the ideal ethno-religious models or ideologies produced by states and religious regimes, and the social reality to which they refer ' (2000, 25).…”

“…The dissolution of the former Yugoslavia and the ferocity of conflicts and violence, moreover, have confined research to the most striking cases and particular moments in time (Poulton and Taji-Farouki 1997, 1). Consequently, the exploration of the Islamic phenomena is left to the mercy of nationalist and post-conflict paradigms, which necessarily essentialize the revival of Islam according to the ethno-national divisions of the day (Henig and Bielenin-Lenczowska 2013). However, the liberalization of religious conduct, and the normalization of the political arena in the two decades since the fall of Communism has unleashed a myriad of new encounters between believers and nationally envisaged religious categories and roles.…”

“Islamic cafés” and “Sharia dating:” Muslim youth, spaces of sociability, and partner relationships in Bosnia-Herzegovina

“…2 The link between ethnic and religious identity (Sorabji 1989(Sorabji , 1994Bringa 1993Bringa , 1995 and the co-optation of religion for political purposes, particularly during the war in the 1990s (Vrcan 1998;Bougarel 2001;Ivekovic 2002;Velikonja 2003), led to the perception of the Islamic revival as an expression of rising Bosniak nationalism. However, recent scholarship has highlighted the importance of the religious dimension of Islamic revival in Bosnia and the wider Balkan region (Ghodsee 2009;Ibrahimpasic 2012;Henig and Bielenin-Lenczowska 2013;Roy 2015a, 2015b;Elbasani and Tosic 2017).…”