το Ισλάμ, τα Βαλκάνια, οι σλαβικές σπουδές. συνέδριο.

www.uni.lodz.pl,
 e-mail: rektoratul@uni.lodz.pl
University of Lodz
Department of Slavic Philology
Department of Middle East and North Africa Ceraneum –
Waldemar Ceran Research Centre for the History and Culture of the Mediterranean Area and South-East Europe

Would like to invite you to the international conference on the subject of:
Islam and Muslims in the culture, literature and languages of the South Slavs
February 18th -19th, 2016

The first states of the South Slavs were established as early as in the IXth century. However, they failed to maintain their independence, as both external and internal destabilizing factors led to their significant weakening, which was used successfully in the XVth century by the Ottoman state. Only parts of the modern day territories of Croatia and Slovenia, which were included in the Kingdom of Hungary and the Habsburg Empire avoided the conquest. The Turkish rule over the South Slavic states contributed to the rise of Islam among Slavs. Islamization was not treated as a priority, however, and the main political agenda of Turkey was to reign over the conquered lands and to gain profits necessary for the maintenance of the Ottoman state. It was mainly peasants and the upper classes wishing to preserve their existing privileges who converted to Islam. Also many Catholics changed their confession due to ambition. This way they could be granted the highest state posts. The collapse of the Ottoman state and the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy not only contributed to the creation of new South Slavic states, but also resulted in the gradual release of the antagonisms between nations of the South, which eventually led to the break-up of Yugoslavia and then to the armed conflict in the late XXth century.
The thematic axis of the conference is the mutual influence of Islamic culture and the cultures of South Slavic countries, documented in folk and artistic literature, historical and linguistic
 www.uni.lodz.pl ul. Narutowicza 65, PL - 90-131 Łódź, tel. (48) 042-635-40-02, www.uni.lodz.pl, e-mail: rektoratul@uni.lodz.pl
sources. We wish to define the notion of “culture” mainly in a distributive manner for the needs of the conference and emphasize the role of the history, literature, theatre and the cinema.
The conference includes the following thematic areas:
1. The South Slavs and the culture of Islam
2. Eastern Christianity and Islam. Religious polemics, conflicts and coexistence.
 3. The history of the relations of the Byzantine-Slavic world with Arabs, Turks and other Muslim ethnic groups.
4. Cultural stereotypes – the picture of a Muslim (Arab, Turk etc.) in the literature and art of the Balkan ethnoses and the depiction of an adherent of the Eastern Orthodox Church in the culture of Islam.
5. Mutual cultural influences – if and how the civilization of Islam enriched the culture of the Byzantine-Slavic circle and vice versa.
6. Slavic Muslims: Bosniaks, Goranis, Macedonian Muslims (Torbeš), Pomaks – in the culture, literature and language of the South Slavs.
 7. Non-Muslims under the Turkish rule (history, culture, language).
8. Socio-political issues of the Balkan Peninsula from a historic and contemporary perspective.

Deadlines: Topics and abstracts should be admitted by the 1st of December 2015 to the following email address: konferencjislam@gmail.com Conference languages: Polish, English and all Slavic languages The conference fee of 300 PLN includes the print of the post-conference materials without the costs of travel, accommodation and meals. More details will be provided later. Organizers: Secretaries of the conference: Full prof. Marek Dziekan PhD. Zofia Brzozowska Full prof. Georgi Minczew MA Marcin Antczak Prof. Teresa Wolińska PhD. Anetta Buras-Marciniak PhD. Julia Mazurkiewicz-Sułkowska