Imagining Bosnian Muslims in Central Europe: Representations, Transfers and Exchanges(32 Austrian and Habsburg Studies)

As a Slavic-speaking religious and ethnic “Other” living just a stone’s throw from the symbolic heart of the continent, the Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina have long occupied a liminal space in the European imagination. To a significant degree, the wider representations and perceptions of this population can be traced to the reports of Central European—and especially Habsburg—diplomats, scholars, journalists, tourists, and other observers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This volume assembles contributions from historians, anthropologists, political scientists, and literary scholars to examine the political, social, and discursive dimensions of Bosnian Muslims’ encounters with the West since the nineteenth century.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction František Šístek Chapter 1. The ‘Turkish Threat’ and Early Modern Central Europe: Czech Reflections Ladislav Hladký and Petr Stehlík Chapter 2. The Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina between Millet and Nation Božidar Jezernik Chapter 3. Ambivalent Perceptions: Austria-Hungary, Bosnian Muslims and the Occupation Campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1878) Martin Gabriel Chapter 4. Sleeping Beauty’s Awakening: Habsburg Colonialism in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1878–1918 Clemens Ruthner Chapter 5. The Portrayal of Muslims in Austrian-Hungarian State Primary School Textbooks for Bosnia and Herzegovina Oliver Pejić Chapter 6. Towards Secularity: Autonomy and Modernization of Bosnian Islamic Institutions under Austro-Hungarian Administration Zora Hesová Chapter 7. Under the Slavic Crescent: Representations of Bosnian Muslims in Czech Literature, Travelogues and Memoirs, 1878–1918 František Šístek Chapter 8. Divided Identities in the Bosnian Narratives of Vjenceslav Novak and Rebecca West Charles Sabatos Chapter 9. Austronostalgia and Bosnian Muslims in the Work of Croatian Anthropologist Vera Stein Erlich Bojan Baskar Chapter 10. The Serbian Proverb Poturica gori od Turčina (A Turk-Convert is Worse Than a Turk): Stigmatizer and Figure of Speech Marija Mandić Chapter 11. From Brothers to Others? Changing Images of Bosnian Muslims in (Post-)Yugoslav Slovenia Alenka Bartulović Chapter 12. Exploring Religious Views among Young People of Bosnian Muslim Origin in Berlin Aldina Čemernica Chapter 13. The West, the Balkans and the In-Between: Bosnian Muslims Representing a European Islam Merima Šehagić Conclusion František Šístek Index

About the Author :
František Šístek is a Research Fellow at the Institute of History, Czech Academy of Sciences and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University in Prague.

Review :
“With a polyphonic and intellectually sophisticated methodology, Imagining Bosnian Muslims in Central Europe offers the reader a series of fascinating case studies exploring the ways Central European intellectuals, media figures, artists and politicians have represented Bosnian Muslims.” • Fabio Giomi, Center for Turkish, Ottoman, Balkan and Central Asian Studies, CNRS Paris