First Nationalism Then Identity On Bosnian Muslims and Their Bosniak Identity

• Main Author: Krijestorac, Mirsad (auth)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: University of Michigan Press 2022
• Series: Ethnic Conflict: Studies in Nationality, Race, and Culture
• Subjects: Politics & government; Nationalism; Nationalism and identity, Bošnjak, Bosniak, Bosniac, Bosnian Muslims, Bosnian War, Muslims and nationalism, religion and nationalism, Islam and nationalism, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sandžak, Islamska Zajednica, Slavic-speaking Muslims, Bosnian Language, European Muslims, Yugoslavia dissolution wars, Balkans, Southern Slavs, Muslim nation, Post-communism, Chicago Bosnians, St Louis Bosnian, New York Bosnians, American Plav-Gusinje Bosniaks, Bosnian Muslims in United States, Bosnian Muslim refugees, Bosnian independence, nationalism and democratic transitions
• Online Access: OAPEN Library: download the publication; OAPEN Library: description of the publication

First Nationalism Then Identity focuses on the case of Bosnian Muslims, a rare historic instance of a new nation emerging. Although for Bosnian Muslims the process of national emergence and the assertion of a new salient identity have been going on for over two decades, Mirsad Kriještorac is the first to explain the significance of the whole process and how the adoption of their new Bosniak identity occurred. He provides a historical overview of Yugoslav and Bosnian Slavic Muslims' transformation into a full-fledged distinct and independent national group as well as addresses the important question in the field of nationalism studies about the relationship between and workings of nationalism and identity. While this book is noteworthy for ordinary readers interested in the case of Bosnian Muslims, it is an important contribution to the scholarly debate on the role of nationalism in the political life of a group and adds an interdisciplinary perspective to comparative politics scholarship by drawing from anthropology, history, geography, and sociology.