Towards agonism: the Serbian and Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) struggle for church and educational autonomy 1897–1902
Towards agonism: the Serbian and Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) struggle for church and educational autonomy 1897–1902

Summary/Abstract: The author explores complex discursive relations between the Serbian and Bosnian Muslim (Bosniak) community during their struggle for religious and educational autonomy vis-à-vis the Austro-Hungarian authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1897-1902. The starting hypothesis is that during their struggle against a common enemy over similar issues, an agonistic discursive relationship was formed between the two political elites. The Austro-Hungarian Empire sought to cut off Bosnian religious ties to Constantinople, both with the Ecumenical Patriarch and with the Caliph; and to force a state run school system on the population. This infringed on the traditional rights of ethnoreligious groups to communal autonomy regarding religious and educational matters, which resulted in the formation of the Movement for religious and educational autonomy and the Movement for Waqfmearif autonomy, among Serbs and Muslims respectively. These movements aimed at restoring their respective autonomies and coordinated their efforts, which would result in the signing of the Draft of a contract of joint struggle for religious and educational autonomy in 1902. The author concludes that Austria-Hungary placed itself in an antagonistic position towards Serbs and Bosniaks through its policies. Consequently, it played a figure of a common enemy, around which an agonistic relationship between Serbs and Bosniaks could be formed.

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