Introduction: Nation, State and Faith in the Post-Communist Era
The growing specter of Muslim migrants has triggered a bourgeoning research on processes of contestation, adaptation and manifestations of Islam in Europe. In contrast, the resurgence of Islam across the post-communist Balkans, the historical stronghold of Muslims in Europe, has gone largely unnoticed. If we heard about them, it was usually in the context of allegiances to the state, the rise of nationalism and violent conflicts brought to world attention by the media in the early 1990s. The violent dissolution of the former Yugoslavia has certainly sparked some academic interest concerning the Muslim communities involved, but the ferocity of the various conflicts has contributed to constraining research only to the most striking cases and particular moments in time (Poulton and Taji-Farouki 1997: 1). The occurrence of war and conflict has, moreover, left the exploration of the Islamic phenomena to the mercy of nationalism and post-conflict paradigms, which have essentialized religion in line with ethno-national divisions of the day (Henig and Bielenin-Lenczowska 2013). Consequently, mainstream research tends to analyze religious groups as a repository of clear-cut ethno-national identities, the ends of which are closely monitored by the state in the interest of imposing communal uniformity and charting well-defined criteria for inclusion and exclusion.
Is 'Euro-Islam' a Myth, Challenge or a Real Opportunity for Muslims and Europe?
The newly coined phrase ‘Euro-Islam’ is a novelty both in English and in other European languages. In current orientalist literature, it rarely appears and it is hardly to be found in older orientalist works. Other English and German terms such as Muslim Spain, Die Muslimische Spanien, or Islamic Spain, Islamische Spanien can be found here and there in older works. In the case of Arabic, the term al-islam al-urubi or ‘European Islam’ is also very uncommon. In fact, it is to be found only among works in uenced by European writings, and appears as a literal translation of ‘Euro-Islam’, indicating that the term is of ‘alien’ origin. ‘Euro-Islam’, however, is not just a terminological issue, nor just a matter of the intonation of terminology dictated by politics, ideology, religion or other factors. The terminological ambiguities and obscurities surrounding the term ‘Euro-Islam’ are primarily a result of vague thinking on the part of those who use it and try to provide a European de nition of the term in the context of the ever increasing presence of Islam in Europe today. ‘Euro-Islam’, therefore, is both a political and ideological term involving its culture and civilization and addressing the question of coexistence in Europe. It follows that one of the important questions for European social sciences is whether ‘Euro-Islam’ will gain full acceptance, not only in terms of social sciences but of European reality itself, and by which routes it will do so. Herein lies, too, the issue of the obstacles in the way of ‘Euro-Islam’s’ full acceptance. This essay therefore addresses certain aspects of understanding the phenomenon known, rightly or wrongly, as ‘Euro-Islam’, and its accompanying features. The essay is thus dedicated to the protagonists of ‘Euro-Islam’, with all their multiple implications, agendas and concepts.
CULTURE, SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND URBAN REGENERATION
Concerns about the conflict between economy, development on one hand and urban cultural heritage on the other hand, have made the urban development to be lately one of the most important themes at European level. Also, another issue of concern is social equity, aiming to strike a balance between economic development and equal access to culture for all generations of inhabitants of urban communities. Basically, ensuring these balances between urban cultural heritage, economy and social equity we express the essence of the concept of sustainable development from the perspective of culture. Urbanization is an ongoing process in all the cities of the world, but urban cultural heritage is a crucial element in the development of the cities and has an important impact over the quality of life of that community. Castles, churches, fortresses, squares and public buildings all contribute at the creating of the community history and of their characteristics.