Making Muslim Women European: Voluntary Associations, Islam and Gender in Post-Ottoman Bosnia and Yugoslavia (1878-1941)

This book provides a new perspective on the history of Slavic Muslim women in the Yugoslav region by examining the role of voluntary associations in shaping their lives and identities. It challenges the notion that Muslim women were silent and relegated to a private space until 1945 and shows how they actively participated in the construction of their communities and pursued their own projects and agendas.

Format: Hardback
Length: 390 pages
Publication date: 15 March 2021
Publisher: Central European University Press

This groundbreaking book offers a comprehensive social, cultural, and political history of Slavic Muslim women in the Yugoslav region during the first decades following the Ottoman Empire's decline. Through a meticulous study of voluntary associations (philanthropic, cultural, Islamic-traditionalist, and feminist), the author challenges the prevailing notion that Muslim women remained silent and confined to private spaces until 1945, when the communist state initiated their liberation from the top down.

After conducting extensive archival research in Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, and Austria, Fabio Giomi presents a compelling narrative that challenges this notion. He demonstrates how various sectors of the Yugoslav elite, both men and women, Muslims and non-Muslims, envisioned the role of Muslim women in the post-Ottoman era through association publications. These narratives were shaped by the interactions between these sectors and Muslim women, who actively participated in the construction or contestation of these narratives.

Furthermore, the book explores how associations employed diverse strategies, such as private schools, scholarships, student dormitories, workshops, and festive events, to cultivate a generation of New Muslim Women who could navigate the complex political and social circumstances of the post-Ottoman period. These associations provided Muslim women with the necessary tools and resources to pursue their own projects, aims, and agendas.

The author's meticulous research and insightful analysis shed light on the complex and multifaceted experiences of Slavic Muslim women in the Yugoslav region during the early post-Ottoman era. This book is a valuable contribution to the field of women's studies, history, and Middle Eastern studies, and it will be of interest to scholars, students, and anyone interested in understanding the role of women in society.

Dimension: 234 x 168 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9789633863695