MODERN GREEK STUDIESMODERN GREEK STUDIESThis presentation aims to delve into the little-researched field of religious conversions in the Balkans in modern times, with emphasis on the conversion of Muslims to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The Greek case is not unique in the modern Balkans where Muslims converted to Orthodox Christianity. Pomaks, Bulgarian-speaking Muslims, were subjected to forcible conversion during the Balkans Wars (1912-1913) and in the 1940s, whereas during the Cold War, the Bulgarian communist authorities-initiated programs aimed at religious and ethnic assimilation of Pomaks and Turkish-speaking Muslims. Conversions of Muslims to Orthodox Christianity also occurred in Serbia, Romania, and elsewhere in the Balkans. Yet, while Balkan historiography has focused on the Islamization of Christians in the region during the Ottoman period, it has paid little attention to the inverse process of Christianization of Muslims in the age of nationalism.
The presentation will mostly focus on the conversion of Muslims to Orthodox Christianity during the Greek War of Independence and the life of converts during the war and the first three decades of the post-independence years (1821-1862). It will build on Stefanos Katsikas’s recently published academic monograph Proselytes of a New Nation: Muslim Conversions to Orthodox Christianity in Modern Greece (New York: Oxford University Press, 2022). The presentation will seek to answer questions such as: Why did many Muslims convert to Orthodox Christianity? What did conversion mean to the converts? What were their economic, social, and professional profiles? And how did conversion affect the converts’ relationships with Muslim relatives in Greece and the Ottoman Empire? Because Sharia law and the Ottoman legal system prevented Muslim apostates from inheriting family property, the presentation will examine the ways in which conversion complicated family relations and often led to legal disputes. It will also discuss the methods used by the Greek authorities to adjudicate legal disputes on property issues between converts and their Muslim relatives.
The presentation will maintain that religious conversion in the era of nationalism was far more consequential for the convert, their family and their social relations. Converts received not only community attention, but also national. Depending upon the religious affiliation and nationality, converts were regarded either “traitors” or “heroes.” Against this sociopolitical backdrop, conversion more drastically affected the social fabric of communities than in the pre-modern era, and more often led to violence and conflict.
Dr. Stefanos Katsikas is Associate Professor of Modern and Contemporary History of Southeastern Europe at the University of Cyprus. He earned his Ph.D. in Social Science (History and International Relations) from the University College London (School of Slavonic and East European Studies). He held academic positions and taught in various British and US universities, including the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Chicago. His research has explored topics of diplomatic, political and social history of Southeastern Europe (18th-21st centuries), including nation-building, minority-state relations, inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations, religious conversions in the age of nationalism, foreign policymaking in the Cold and post-Cold War periods, post-conflict reconciliation and transitional justice in nascent democratic environments. Dr. Katsikas is the author of three book monographs Proselytes of a New Nation: Muslim Conversions to Orthodox Christianity in Modern Greece (Oxford University Press, 2022), Islam and Nationalism in Modern Greece, 1821-1940 (Oxford University Press, 2021), Negotiating Diplomacy in the New Europe: Foreign Policy in Post-communist Bulgaria (I.B. Tauris/Bloomsbury, 2011), which won the Scouloudi publication award from the Institute of Historical Research, University of London (2011).
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LOCATION:Online STATUS:CONFIRMED DTSTART:20241106T200000Z DTEND:20241106T200000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR