ETHNO-RELIGIOUS EXPRESSIONS OF OTHERNESS (CHALLENGES AND RESPONSES)MODULE 5. Islam, The Balkans, Identity.

Етикети

Balkans, identity, Islam, otherness

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ISLAM UNDER THE CONDITIONS OF MODERNITY

Етикети

community, identity, Islam, modernity, neighbourhood

Abstract: The article proposes a possible methodological perspective for conceptualizing Islam and modernity in the context of the dichotomy “traditional vs. modern”. The author outlines the different images of Islam in their specific sociological profiles as related to (and stemming from) the canon of norms that constitute the Islamic community and construct community ties, the basic resource of which are religious values. A scrutiny of the modes of difference and otherness through the lense of neighbourhood reveals otherness to be a latent conflict factor susceptible to political mobilization and populist manipulation. The author identifies the problem fields that generate the clash between secularism and Islam.
Keywords: modernity, Islam, identity, community, neighbourhood

islam under…Изтегляне

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ETHNICITY, RELIGION, NATIONAL IDENTITY / ЕТНОС, РЕЛИГИЯ, НАЦИОНАЛНА ИДЕНТИЧНОСТ

Етикети

culture, етнос, идентичност, ислям, култура, национализъм, ethnicity, identity, Islam, nationalism, религия, ценности, religion, values

Abstract: The processes we designate as globalization tend to provoke resistance, which arises ever more often as an effort on the part of various ethno-cultural and religious traditions to preserve their own identity. In this context, ethnic and religious affiliations become centers of meaning in the striving towards a separate identity in the global debate regarding the quality of human development.

Achieving a national community and building new norms of coexistence under the conditions of ethno-religious variety are becoming a strategic goal of contemporary development. Contemporary civilization faces the need to respond to the critique and resistance of various forms of religious fundamentalism, and especially the critique formulated in the tradition of Islamic fundamentalism.   

The problems related to national identity have been far more often described and discussed in the context of nationalist fears of difference than in terms of the effort to overcome the crisis of identity amidst the imposed similarities. Under Bulgarian conditions, ethnic and religious diversity continues to be perceived as an established fact that we must take into account, and not as a resource for nation building. Achieving a national identity should be the result of joint effort. The first and most difficult part of this effort is to recognize that this common meaning exists in a diversity of forms. The coming years will be marked by a search for new grounds of one’s own identity, a search for the spaces that define parts of ourselves. The great challenge facing Bulgaria is to rediscover the values and meaning of the national community. Only thus will our genuine, full presence in Europe become a fact.   

Keywords: religion, ethnicity, culture, identity, Islam, nationalism, values

ЕТНОС, РЕЛИГИЯ, НАЦ. ИДЕНТИЧНОСТ (2)Изтегляне

RELIGIOUS IDENTITY AND VALUE ORIENTATIONS

Етикети

identity, Islam, religion, tolerance, tradition, values

Abstract: The results of the analyses of European Values Study data (European Values Study 2008) indicate significant differences between the social and value profile of Eastern Orthodox Christians and the Muslim community in Bulgaria. In this survey, for an important share of the respondents who define themselves as Muslims, religion is no longer a value in itself but a complete environment, which determines the attitude towards other values and relations. Religious morality structures the new models of participation and forms of solidarity. While the Orthodox Christians mostly have a traditional respect for the norms of faith, among an important part of the Muslims religion is becoming a value scale and a core of social activity in general. While we do have reason to consider that, overall, Bulgarian society is in a process of rethinking its attitude to religion, this applies to a much greater degree to Muslims. The mediating complex of factors that most probably accelerate certain processes of consolidation of the religious community is connected with its partial social isolation, its specific profile of professional, civic, and political activity.

Key words:  values, Islam, identity, religion, tolerance, tradition, faith

ARTICLE VBOSAKOV EN. РЕЛИГИОЗНА ИДЕНТИЧНОСТ И ЦЕННОСТНА ОРИЕНТАЦИЯdocИзтегляне

ИСЛЯМ – БАЛКАНИ – ИДЕНТИЧНОСТ / ISLAM – THE BALKANS – IDENTITY

Етикети

Balkans, colonization, Балкани, етнос, идентичност, ислям, ислямизация, колонизация, миграция, ethnos, identity, Islam, Islamization, migration, религия, religion

Резюме: Още в хода на завоюването на Балканския полуостров, което приключва към края на XV век, пред империята възниква въпроса за нуждата от увеличаване на мюсюлманския елемент, чрез който да се утвърди османската власт в новите земи. Органите на централната власт, армията и духовенството започват системно да провеждат политика на ислямизация. Колонизацията и миграцията са едни от факторите, които водят до установяване на многобройно население с ислямска компонента.  Ислямизацията е свързана и с определени предимства като опрощаване на провинения на нарушители на закона, раздаване на служби и длъжности, подпомагане на бедните нови мюсюлмани, включване в различни османски военни организации – спахийство, еничарство, яя (селяни пехотинци), мюслеми (свободни селяни конници), акънджии (ударна конница), юруци и др. Осъществява се сливане на етническа и религиозна идентичност, произтичащо от самата организация на империята и значимостта на религията за упражняването на властта. Религията се превръща в етноним на властта, а властта е мюсюлманска. Очевидно е, че причините и факторите за приемането на исляма от част от балканското население не са окончателно изяснени и ще останат дискусионни, ако обяснението им се търси само в „насилието“ или само в „доброволността“. Може би тези причини трябва да се свържат както с вътрешнополитическата стратегия на османската държава спрямо многобройното население на Балканите,  така и със средновековната религиозност на селяните и невъзможността на намиращата се в подчинено положение православна църква да поддържа вярата им и да ги подкрепя материално.

Ключови думи: ислям, Балкани, идентичност, етнос, религия, ислямизация, колонизация, миграция

доц. д-р Веселин Босаков, ИФС при БАН

Abstract: Even before the conquest of the Balkan Peninsula was completed by the end of the 15 century, the Ottoman Empire was faced with the need to increase the Muslim component of the local population so as to affirm Ottoman power in the new lands. The central authorities, the army and the clergy began to systematically implement a policy of Islamization. Colonization and migration were among the factors that led to the settlement of a numerous Muslim population. Conversion to Islam was linked to certain advantages, such as pardon for violations of law, the distribution of offices and positions, assistance for impoverished new Muslims, inclusion in Ottoman military organizations such as the spahi, the janissaries, the yaya (peasant infantry), the muslem (autonomous peasant cavalry), the akinji (advance cavalry), the yuruks, etc. There was a merging of ethnic and religious identity stemming from the way in which the Empire was organized and from the importance of religion for the exercise of power. Religious affiliation became an ethnonym of power, and power was in Muslim hands. Evidently, the causes and factors of the conversion to Islam of part of the Balkan population have not been definitively clarified and will remain debatable if the explanation is looked for in “coercion” alone or in “voluntary choice” alone. Perhaps the causes might be related to the internal political strategy of the Ottoman state with regard to the numerous population of the Balkans as well as to the medieval religiousness of the peasants and the incapacity of the Orthodox Church, in its subordinate position, to maintain their faith and provide them with material assistance.

Keywords: Islam, Balkans, identity, ethnos, religion, Islamization, colonization, migration

Assoc. Prof. Veselin Bosakov, PhD

ИСЛЯМ – БАЛКАНИ – ИДЕНТИЧНОСТИзтегляне

ИСЛЯМЪТ В ГЛОБАЛЕН, ЕВРОПЕЙСКИ И БАЛКАНСКИ КОНТЕКСТ

Етикети

другост, идентичност, ислям, ислямофобия, identity, Islam, Islamophobia, neighbourhood, съседство

Abstract: The image that the Christian, and later on the West European rationalist, tradition had formed of Islam has been undergoing a many-sided transformation in the last decades. After the breakdown of the Soviet Union and the Socialist Bloc, the changes that took place at the geostrategic and political levels transformed in a dramatic way both the visibility of difference and the scale on which difference can be assessed and defined. The global scale of the changing visibility of, and attitude to, Islam, and the political dimensions of this change as yet remain insufficiently understood. Even now, the prevailing viewpoint on these facts is limited to declaring various standpoints regarding the strategic orientation of the globalization process. Perhaps that is why difference (which is increasingly becoming synonymous with Islam) is distinctly seeking to side with the opponents of globalism despite the endless variety of ideas, motives, and interests that go into, or are prepared to go into, this doctrine. 

 Keywords: Islam, neighbourhood, Islamophobia, identity, otherness

Резюме: Представата за исляма, формирана в традициите на християнството, а по-късно и на западноевропейския рационализъм, е подложена на бърза многопосочна трансформация в последните десетилетия. След разпадането на Съветския съюз и социалистическия блок от държави, настъпилите промени в геостратегически и политически план драматично трансформират както видимостта на различието, така и мащабите, в които то може да бъде оценявано и определяно. Изключителното значение на този глобален мащаб на промяна във видимостта и отношението към исляма и неговите политически измерения, остава все още недооценено. Все още доминиращата гледна точка към значението на тези факти се изчерпва чрез деклариране на позиции спрямо стратегическата ориентация на процеса на глобализация. Може би именно затова все по-отчетливо различието (в синоним на което все по-категорично се превръща исляма) търси своето място сред противниците на глобализма, независимо от безкрайното разнообразие от идеи, мотиви и интереси, които изпълват или са готови да изпълнят със съдържание тази доктрина.

Ключови думи: ислям, съседство, ислямофобия, идентичност, другост

доц. д-р Веселин Босаков

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