RT Article
T1 Orthodox Churches and the ‘Othering’ of Islam and Muslims in Today’s Balkans
JF Journal of Muslims in Europe
VO 9
IS 3
SP 377
OP 401
A1 Račius, Egdūnas 1973-
LA English
PB Brill
YR 2020
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1735717819
AB The article focuses on the relation between the socio-legal status of national Orthodox Churches and their role in the legal, institutional and social ‘othering’ of Islam and ethnic groups of Muslims in three Balkans countries, namely, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Serbia. The research reveals that the state-pursued construction of national identity and politics of belonging are expressly permeated by ethno-confessional nationalism, which is at the core of the deep-running tensions between the dominant ethnic group and the marginalized Muslims. There is an alliance between the political and the Church elites to keep ethnic groups of Muslim background either altogether outside the ‘national Us’ or at least at its outer margins.
K1 Europe
K1 Islamophobia
K1 Muslims
K1 Orthodox Churches
K1 Othering
DO 10.1163/22117954-BJA10012