scholarly journals Crypto-Christianity and Religious Hybridisation in the Ottoman Balkans: a Case Study (1599–1622)

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 217-226
Author(s):  
Silvia Notarfonso
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
Complex Phenomenon ◽  
Unresolved Issue ◽  
Melting Pot ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Islamic Religion ◽  
Ottoman Balkans

In this paper I intend to address the issue of crypto-Catholicism in the early Ottoman Balkans, a complex phenomenon which has drawn historians’ attention over the decades. More specifically, I will attempt to define and clarify the difficult and unresolved issue, taking into account the characteristics of the Balkans where many religious and social groups co-existed. That produced interaction and enmeshment between the various religions and, as a result, identities developed specific distinctive traits and often overlapped. Within that unique Balkan environment – a real confessional melting pot – crypto-Christianity naturally arose. Crypto-Catholics or Orthodoxies, living under Ottoman rule, publicly decided to embrace the Islamic religion but secretly identified themselves as Christians. I have set out to investigate this phenomenon by considering letters and reports produced by Catholic missions involved in the Balkan peninsula.

scholarly journals Bałkany w ujęciu historiografii kościelnej V wieku związanej ze środowiskiem konstantynopolitańskim

Vox Patrum ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 66 ◽  
pp. 277-299
Author(s):  
Sławomir Bralewski
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
Church History ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Danube River ◽  
Border Zone ◽  
Melting Pot ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Stability

In the accounts of Socrates of Constantinople, Hermias Sozomenus and Phi­lostorgius, i.e. those ecclesiastical historians who represented the Constantino­politan point of view in church history, the region of the Balkans was neither ad­ministratively nor culturally or religiously uniform. Contents of their works sug­gest, however, that the area was very important strategically, which was indirectly stressed in Sozomenus’ and Phlilostorgius’ accounts of the conflicts between Con­stantine and Licinius, and then directly referred to when the three historians wrote on the invasion of the Goths and Maximus’ usurpation. All the three sources also imply that the Balkan peninsula became a shelter not only for refugees from the outside of the empire but also a safe haven for political fugitives from the Roman territories, as for instance is the case of Valentinian II and his entourage. It is also clearly visible that the region was treated by the historians as the hinterland of Constantinople, i.e. the second capital of the Roman Empire, founded by order of Constantine. Security of the capital was largely dependent on the stability of the Roman rule in the Balkans and the maintenance of peace in the area. The advent of the Huns, who pushed other barbarians to cross the Danube river, destabilized the region. The destabilization occurred even despite efforts of christianizing the inflowing tribes, which was an element of the strategy of the Romans targeted at subjecting the barbarian peoples to the empire both politically as well as re­ligiously. Socrates’, Sozomenus’ and Philostorgius’ accounts also show that the Balkans became a border zone of the empire (divided into its western and eastern parts) and a melting pot of various religious influences, which is exemplified by the regional history of Arianism. It is also undeniable that not only Socrates of Constantinople and Hermias Sozomenus but also Phlostorgius devoted to the Bal­kans more attention than Eusebius of Caesarea did. The fact can be explained on he basis of their geographical proximity to the region, which naturally drew the interest of the former, Constantinopole-based three. Last but not least, Sozomenus displayed in his narrative a better geographical competence as for the region than Socrates and therefore he tried to emend the account of his predecessor.

scholarly journals Applied Ethics in the Ottoman Legal System in the Balkans: A Case Study of Bitola (Macedonia) with Reference to the Sijillāt al-Shar῾iyyah

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mesut Idriz
Keyword(s):  
Legal System ◽  
Applied Ethics ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Melting Pot ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
History Of ◽  
Balkan Region ◽  
Proper Definition

After the Ottoman withdrawal, numerous researchers of the Balkan peoples evaluated centuries of Ottoman domination in a negative and often hostile manner by interpreting it in a nationalistic and often myopic view. Based on archival materials left by the Ottomans, it has become incumbent upon the students to investigate and analyze as objectively as possible the history of Ottoman rule and its legal system in this region. Among all the documents contained in the archives those of the Sijillat al-Shar‘iyyah (Islamic Judicial Records) are considered to be the most important, where in them the reliable objective case-by-case sources are found, not only in legal aspects but also in socio-economic matters and religio-cultural institutions related to both Muslims and non-Muslims. In recent decades, the notion of “Applied Sharī‛ah and Ethics” has been used in a loose manner without a real and proper definition, mostly in matters related to the legality of contemporary business transactions. This article will attempt to discuss and present the correct meaning of applied Sharī‛ah and ethical approach by claiming that the most remarkable sources are the recorded documents preserved in the Sharī‛ah courts. In order to do so, the article focuses on two combined points: the Ottoman judicial records and a case study of the famous Balkan region of Ottoman Bitola (formerly known as Manastir) in Macedonia, where the former archival documents are found. Bitola is chosen as a model for how the Islamic laws were applied during the dominance of Ottoman Empire in the territory. It is well-known that the region of Bitola was a melting pot and a mosaic of various ethnic groups mainly Greeks, Turks, and Albanians, with different religious beliefs comprising of Muslims, Christians and Jews.

Sport and nationalism in the Republic of North Macedonia

Focaal ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Vasiliki P. Neofotistos
Keyword(s):  
Direct Product ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
National History ◽  
Sports Teams ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The North ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
The Republic

Using the Republic of North Macedonia as a case study, this article analyzes the processes through which national sports teams’ losing performance acquires a broad social and political significance. I explore claims to sporting victory as a direct product of political forces in countries located at the bottom of the global hierarchy that participate in a wider system of coercive rule, frequently referred to as empire. I also analyze how public celebrations of claimed sporting victories are intertwined with nation-building efforts, especially toward the global legitimization of a particular version of national history and heritage. The North Macedonia case provides a fruitful lens through which we can better understand unfolding sociopolitical developments, whereby imaginings of the global interlock with local interests and needs, in the Balkans and beyond.

Gender Bias in Education Expenditure among Religious and Social Groups: A Case Study for Below Class 10 Level in West Bengal

2021 ◽  
pp. 097674792110464
Author(s):  
Chayanika Mitra
Keyword(s):  
Gender Bias ◽  
West Bengal ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
National Sample ◽  
Sample Survey ◽  
Education Expenditure ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Expenditure Data ◽  
The Social

This article attempts to capture gender bias in education expenditure among the religious (Hindu, Muslim and others) and the social groups (SC, ST and General) in West Bengal. Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition technique is used to obtain gender bias for a specific demographic group. Further, an attempt has been made to identify the religious or social groups with the acute problem of gender bias. In this work, 71st round (January–June 2014) education expenditure data (individual level) provided by NSSO (National Sample Survey Office) is used. JEL: I24, R1, C55

Post-Byzantine hermeneiai zographikes in the eighteenth century and their dissemination in the Balkans during the nineteenth century

2006 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-79
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Moutafov
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries

This article focuses on the significance of the Orthodox painters’ manuals, called hermeneiai zographikes, in the development of post-Byzantine iconography and painting technology and techniques in the Balkans during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Using a number of unpublished painters’ manuals (Greek and Slavonic) as primary sources for the study of Christian and Ottoman culture in the Balkan peninsula, it is possible to examine perceptions of Europe in the Balkans, in particular the principal routes for the transmission of ideas of the European Enlightenment, as well as the role of artists as mediators in the processes of ‘Europeanization'.

The Interpretation of Archaeological Floor Assemblages: A Case Study from the American Southwest

1998 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 617-634 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Diehl
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
American Southwest ◽  
Formation Processes ◽  
Functional Differences

Analyses of the assemblages from the floors of Upland Mogollon pithouses show that variation in artifact frequencies may be attributed to differences in the intensity of abandonment and post-abandonment formation processes, such as caching, scavenging and trash dumping. The proportion of pithouses that contain caches or de facto assemblages is provocatively constant across sites—roughly 18 percent. This observation may be useful for refining estimates of the populations of sites or regions, for recognizing the size of social groups, or for identifying the abandonment sequences of pithouse villages. Prior studies that attribute variation in the frequencies of different classes of artifacts to functional differences in the uses of pithouses are rejected on the grounds of methodological inadequacy.

scholarly journals Newcomers and Locals. Invisible Boundaries Among Inhabitants of the Divided City in the Balkans

2019 ◽  
pp. 203-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marzena Anna Maciulewicz
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Intergroup Relations ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Residential Status ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Actual Nature

Newcomers and Locals. Invisible Boundaries Among Inhabitants of the Divided City in the BalkansResearch on divided cities in the Balkans focuses mostly on ethnic/national divisions. Is this perspective, however, truly viable and sufficient for the description of post-conflict cities in the Balkans? The question is posed not only because of the fact that every city is somehow divided or fragmented. More noteworthy, and not widely known, is the fact that the unstable structure of a city’s population is much more complex with its intergroup relations becoming much more complicated – a fact commonly disregarded due to the importance assigned to ethnic/national rifts which have dominated the narrative of the divided city. Underestimating the importance of other relations within society and the dynamics of a highly changeable social structure, one cannot uncover the actual nature of intergroup relations in a divided city.The main objective of this paper is to briefly present the state of contemporary inter- and intragroup relations in a divided city, with a special focus on inhabitants’ residential status. The article is based mainly on the case study of Mitrovica supplemented with references to other cities in the Balkans considered as divided. The paper is based on selected outcomes of qualitative and quantitative field research conducted in Mitrovica in 2017 and 2018 as well as results of other studies devoted mostly to Mitrovica but also to Mostar, Vukovar, Skopje and Sarajevo. Przybysze i miejscowi. Niewidoczne granice wśród mieszkańców podzielonego miasta na BałkanachBadania nad podzielonymi miastami na Bałkanach koncentrują się głównie na podziałach etnicznych/narodowych. Jednak, czy ta perspektywa jest odpowiednia i wystarczająca do opisania miast pokonfliktowych na Bałkanach? To pytanie nie wynika tylko z faktu, że każde miasto jest w jakiś sposób podzielone lub rozdrobnione. Bardziej istotny, a jednocześnie mniej znany jest fakt, że niestabilna struktura populacji tych miast jest znacznie bardziej złożona, a relacje międzygrupowe – znacznie bardziej skomplikowane, niż przedstawiają to dominujące narracje o podzielonych miastach przypisujące kluczowe znaczenie rozłamom etnicznym/narodowym. Tymczasem, nie doceniając znaczenia innego rodzaju relacji w społeczeństwie oraz dynamiki wysoce zmiennej struktury społecznej, nie można odkryć rzeczywistej natury relacji międzygrupowych w podzielonym mieście.Głównym celem artykułu jest przedstawienie współczesnego stanu między- i wewnątrzgrupowych relacji w podzielonym mieście, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem statusu mieszkańców Mitrowicy. Artykuł jest przede wszystkim studium przypadku miasta Mitrowica (Kosowo) uzupełnionym o odniesienia do innych podzielonych miast na Bałkanach. Artykuł opiera się na wybranych wynikach jakościowych i ilościowych badań terenowych przeprowadzonych w Mitrowicy w 2017 i 2018 roku, jak również na wynikach innych badań poświęconych głównie Mitrowicy, ale także Mostarowi, Vukovarowi, Skopje i Sarajewu.

scholarly journals Od ojczyzny prywatnej do więzi ideologicznej. Arumuni — naród, któremu nie jest potrzebne państwo

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-20
Author(s):  
Ewa Nowicka
Keyword(s):  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
Common Language ◽  
Culturally Specific ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Romance Language ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Ideological Construction

This article is devoted to the contemporary process of the ethnic mobilizing of stateless European peoples. The Aromanians, who live in all the countries of the Balkan peninsula but have never experienced lasting statehood, are an example. Currently, members of the young Aromanian intelligentsia are creating a transnational, supra-state community by evoking old symbols and new myths: the cult of symbolic places, historic events, figures, family micro-histories (genealogies), and a common language and values. Access to modern means of communication plays an important role in the process. In the author’s opinion, a modern transnational people is emerging from the politically unformed — but culturally specific — Romance-language community of the Balkans. The group could be considered a “recovered community,” which is based on an ideological construction utilizing carefully selected elements of common history and culture.

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