There are roughly eight million Muslims in south-east Europe, among them Albanians, Bosniaks, Turks and Roma -- descendants of converts or settlers in the Ottoman period. This new history of the social, political and religious transformations that this population experienced in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries -- a period marked by the collapse of the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires and by the creation of the modern Balkan states -- will shed new light on the European Muslim experience. Southeast Europe's Muslims have experienced a slow and complex crystallisation of their respective national identities, which accelerated after 1945 as a result of the authoritarian modernisation of communist regimes and, in the late twentieth century, ended in nationalist mobilisations that precipitated the independence of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo during the break-up of Milosevic's Yugoslavia. At a religious level, these populations have re--mained connected to the institutions established by the Ottoman Empire, as well as to various educational, intellectual and Sufi (mystic) networks. With the fall of communism, new transnational networks appeared, especially neo-Salafist and neo- Sufi ones, although Europe's Balkan Muslims have not escaped the wider processes of secularisation.

About the Author
Nathalie Clayer and Xavier Bougarel are researchers at the Centre for Turkish, Ottoman, Balkan and Central Asian Studies (CETOBAC), EHESS, University of Paris. Nathalie Clayer is a historian of religion and nationalism in the Ottoman and post-Ottoman eras and Xavier Bougarel specialises in Islam in south-east Europe after the wars in the former Yugoslavia.

Reviews
'This is an excellent contribution to the study of both Islam and Muslims in post-communist lands. ... Clayer and Bougarel present their findings in an entirely accessible manner and the volume will appeal to a broad audience with diverse interests.' -- Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations
'Written by two of the most distinguished French scholars of Southeastern Europe and Islam, and appearing here in an outstanding translation from French, this is the most comprehensive existing survey of the Balkan Muslims in the last two centuries. Its interpretative strength lies in the rare combination between sophisticated historiographical analysis and clarity of exposition.' -- Maria Todorova, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
'This welcome translation of this collaborative work ... helps introduce readers to an important clarification of European Islam that has evolved over centuries ... [An] excellent study...' -- Dr. Isa Blumi, Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor of Turkish Studies, Stockholm University, CHOICE


Awards
Winner of CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title 2017.



Book Information
ISBN 9781849046596
Author Professor Nathalie Clayer
Format Hardback
Page Count 288
Imprint C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
Publisher C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd