Description
Proselytes of a New Nation analyzes questions such as: Why did many Muslims convert to Greek Orthodoxy? What did conversion mean to the converts? What were their economic, social, and professional profiles? And how did conversion affect the converts' relationships with Muslim relatives in Greece and the Ottoman Empire? Because Sharia law and the Ottoman legal system could keep Muslim apostates--Muslims who had converted to other religions--from inheriting family property, Stefanos Katsikas examines the ways in which conversion complicated family relations and often led to legal disputes. This volume also discusses the method used by the Greek state to adjudicate legal disputes on property issues between neophytes (converts) and their Muslim relatives. Proselytes of a New Nation maintains that religious conversion in the era of nationalism was far more consequential for the convert, their family, and their social relations. Converts received not only community attention, but also national. Depending upon the religious affiliation and nationality of an individual, they regarded neophytes as either "traitors" or "heroes." Against this sociopolitical backdrop, conversion more drastically affected the social fabric of communities than in the pre-modern era, and more often led to violence and conflict.
About the Author
Stefanos Katsikas is Associate Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies and Assistant Instructional Professor at the University of Chicago. He holds a PhD in History and Political Sciences from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at University College London. His research interests lie in the field of modern and contemporary history of Europe, with focus Southeastern Europe, on issues such as democratization, minority-state relations, regional security, the emergence of nationalism and its impact on religious and national identities, Islam, Christianity and Judaism as well as religious conversions. He is the author of Islam and Nationalism in Modern Greece, 1821-1862 and Negotiating Diplomacy in the New Europe: Foreign Policy in the Post-Communist Bulgaria, which received a Scouloudi publication award from the Institute of Historical Research in London. Katsikas is also the editor of Bulgaria and Europe: Shifting Identities; and co-editor of State Nationalism in the Ottoman Empire, Greece and Turkey: Orthodox and Muslims (1830-1945).
Reviews
Katsikas's impressive archival research sheds light on a neglected topic...In this original study, the author demonstrates how conversion to Christianity in the age of nationalism was a survival tactic and a means to acquire the attendant privileges of being a member of the victorious side in post-Ottoman Europe. * Marc David Baer, author of The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars, and Caliphs *
This book represents considerable scholarship on the important question of conversion from Islam to Orthodox Christianity during and in the aftermath of the very violent period associated with the War of Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire. Drawing on a wealth of archival and other primary sources, Katsikas presents a clear and engaging analysis of the conditions under which Muslims became Orthodox Christians in this period of dramatic political and demographic change. * Benjamin Fortna, Director & Professor, School of Middle Eastern & North African Studies, University of Arizona *
Lost in the literature of nationalisms and 'ethnic awakenings', the fate of those individuals and communities converting to a new nation (and religion) has received little attention so far. Stephanos Katsikas successfully unpacks this aspect of modern Greek history and the fate of its first Muslim citizens providing an impressive array of legal, political and historical data to inform one of the most problematic aspects of nation-building in Europe * Neophytos Loizides, Director of Conflict Analysis Research Centre, University of Kent *
This book is, without any doubt, a major contribution to the field of Balkan history and broadly, to modern European history. It is based on an unexplored cache of unique source material that is meticulously analyzed and convincingly laid out. * Maria Todorova, Gutgsell Professor of History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign *
Katsikas' work lays an important foundation in the English language scholarship of post-independence Greece. * Alexander Billinis, The Hydramerican *
Book Information
ISBN 9780197621752
Author Stefanos Katsikas
Format Hardback
Page Count 248
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 486g
Dimensions(mm) 243mm * 163mm * 20mm
About the Author
Stefanos Katsikas is Associate Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies and Assistant Instructional Professor at the University of Chicago. He holds a PhD in History and Political Sciences from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at University College London. His research interests lie in the field of modern and contemporary history of Europe, with focus Southeastern Europe, on issues such as democratization, minority-state relations, regional security, the emergence of nationalism and its impact on religious and national identities, Islam, Christianity and Judaism as well as religious conversions. He is the author of Islam and Nationalism in Modern Greece, 1821-1862 and Negotiating Diplomacy in the New Europe: Foreign Policy in the Post-Communist Bulgaria, which received a Scouloudi publication award from the Institute of Historical Research in London. Katsikas is also the editor of Bulgaria and Europe: Shifting Identities; and co-editor of State Nationalism in the Ottoman Empire, Greece and Turkey: Orthodox and Muslims (1830-1945).
Reviews
Katsikas's impressive archival research sheds light on a neglected topic...In this original study, the author demonstrates how conversion to Christianity in the age of nationalism was a survival tactic and a means to acquire the attendant privileges of being a member of the victorious side in post-Ottoman Europe. * Marc David Baer, author of The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars, and Caliphs *
This book represents considerable scholarship on the important question of conversion from Islam to Orthodox Christianity during and in the aftermath of the very violent period associated with the War of Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire. Drawing on a wealth of archival and other primary sources, Katsikas presents a clear and engaging analysis of the conditions under which Muslims became Orthodox Christians in this period of dramatic political and demographic change. * Benjamin Fortna, Director & Professor, School of Middle Eastern & North African Studies, University of Arizona *
Lost in the literature of nationalisms and 'ethnic awakenings', the fate of those individuals and communities converting to a new nation (and religion) has received little attention so far. Stephanos Katsikas successfully unpacks this aspect of modern Greek history and the fate of its first Muslim citizens providing an impressive array of legal, political and historical data to inform one of the most problematic aspects of nation-building in Europe * Neophytos Loizides, Director of Conflict Analysis Research Centre, University of Kent *
This book is, without any doubt, a major contribution to the field of Balkan history and broadly, to modern European history. It is based on an unexplored cache of unique source material that is meticulously analyzed and convincingly laid out. * Maria Todorova, Gutgsell Professor of History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign *
Katsikas' work lays an important foundation in the English language scholarship of post-independence Greece. * Alexander Billinis, The Hydramerican *
Book Information
ISBN 9780197621752
Author Stefanos Katsikas
Format Hardback
Page Count 248
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 486g
Dimensions(mm) 243mm * 163mm * 20mm
