The Ethnic Conflict in the Preševo Valley. The Role of the Orthodox Religion in the Conflict
Journal Title: Codrul Cosminului - Year 2014, Vol 20, Issue 1
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to determine the role of the Orthodox Christianity in the ethnic Serbian-Albanian conflict in the so-called Preševo Valley. This conflict between ethnically and religiously divided societies escalated to a military phase at the end of the 20th century. The data on the role of the Orthodox Christianity in the conflict and the perception of its characteristics by local Serbs was acquired through the field research conducted in September 2011. The paper is divided into four sections. The first section includes a general description of the Serbian-Albanian conflict in the so-called Preševo Valley; the second part consists of a theoretical framework of the role of religion in ethnic conflicts; the third section contains a field research methodology; and the fourth, main part consists of the analysis of the field data. The analysis of the acquired data was organised in four thematic streams: (a) the defensive character of the Orthodox religion, (b) the Serbian Orthodox Church as a national and religious institution, (c) the perception of local and newcomer Muslims, (d) the perception of the role of religion and other factors in the local ethnic conflict. The conclusion coming from this article is that the religion plays a negligible role in the discussed conflict which was mostly influenced by economic and ideological factors. However, religion can be cleverly instrumentalised in a conflict. Additionally, on the Serbian side, there is visible an increased victimisation discourse (where Serbs are the victims) containing both national and religious motives.
Authors and Affiliations
Radosław Zenderowski, Rafał Wiśniewski
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP152620
- DOI -
- Views 100
- Downloads 0
Romania in the Soviet Secret Policy of the Early 1920s
The article reveals the essence of the Soviet foreign policy towards Romania, whose purpose was the establishment of the Soviet power in this state. The methods and instruments (mechanisms) used by the Bolsheviks to prom...
Transylvania in the strategy of Hungary on the Peace Conference of 1946
At the end of the Second World War, Hungary and the Hungarian Diaspora in Western Europe proposed at the Peace Conference in Paris several solutions for solving the Transylvanian situation. The Hungarian propagandi...
The principles of the policy of the Viennese Court towards the social classes and categories of Transylvania (1688-1790)
Social policy has been a key component of the absolutist regime of the Habsburgs in Transylvania. An important aspect of social policy was the Viennese Court's position regarding social classes and categories from Princi...
The Ethnic Conflict in the Preševo Valley. The Role of the Orthodox Religion in the Conflict
The aim of this paper is to determine the role of the Orthodox Christianity in the ethnic Serbian-Albanian conflict in the so-called Preševo Valley. This conflict between ethnically and religiously divided societies esca...
"Poverty or Ignorance?" The Challenge of Social Diseases in Bukovina around 1900
One of the great challenges of the transition to the 1900s was the state of health of the inhabitants of Bukovina. Facing with all sorts of clinical cases, the physicians have tried to understand their mechanisms, identi...