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 escalated to a military phase at the end of the 20th century. The data on the role o...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava
2014-07-01
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| Series: | Codrul Cosminului |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://atlas.usv.ro/www/codru_net/CC20/1/ethnic.pdf |
| _version_ | 1818160542177558528 |
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| author | Radosław Zenderowski Rafał Wiśniewski |
| author_facet | Radosław Zenderowski Rafał Wiśniewski |
| author_sort | Radosław Zenderowski |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T16:03:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-207fdb5186e2478e8b772f637b7d518f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1224-032X 2067-5860 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T16:03:32Z |
| publishDate | 2014-07-01 |
| publisher | Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Codrul Cosminului |
| spelling | doaj.art-207fdb5186e2478e8b772f637b7d518f2022-12-22T00:59:16ZengStefan cel Mare University of SuceavaCodrul Cosminului1224-032X2067-58602014-07-01201239258The Ethnic Conflict in the Preševo Valley. The Role of the Orthodox Religion in the ConflictRadosław Zenderowski0Rafał Wiśniewski1Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, PolandCardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, PolandThe 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.http://atlas.usv.ro/www/codru_net/CC20/1/ethnic.pdfPreševo Valleyethnic conflictreligionSerbsAlbanians |
| spellingShingle | Radosław Zenderowski Rafał Wiśniewski The Ethnic Conflict in the Preševo Valley. The Role of the Orthodox Religion in the Conflict Codrul Cosminului Preševo Valley ethnic conflict religion Serbs Albanians |
| title | The Ethnic Conflict in the Preševo Valley. The Role of the Orthodox Religion in the Conflict |
| title_full | The Ethnic Conflict in the Preševo Valley. The Role of the Orthodox Religion in the Conflict |
| title_fullStr | The Ethnic Conflict in the Preševo Valley. The Role of the Orthodox Religion in the Conflict |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Ethnic Conflict in the Preševo Valley. The Role of the Orthodox Religion in the Conflict |
| title_short | The Ethnic Conflict in the Preševo Valley. The Role of the Orthodox Religion in the Conflict |
| title_sort | ethnic conflict in the presevo valley the role of the orthodox religion in the conflict |
| topic | Preševo Valley ethnic conflict religion Serbs Albanians |
| url | http://atlas.usv.ro/www/codru_net/CC20/1/ethnic.pdf |
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