Full Description
This book focuses on the interconnections of religion and migration in the Black Sea region through case studies that explore shifting identities, community, and national boundaries, as well as social practices and networks.
During the past few decades the Black Sea has been transformed from a largely closed region, due to the Cold War, to a bridge for human, economic, and cultural capital flows. As the region opened up, understandings and practices of religion were re-signified due to new and diverse mobilities and resettlements. This volume addresses and responds to the current scarcity of academic research on the repercussion of political reform, migration, and modernization in the areas surrounding the Black Sea. Contributors uncover and examine the pivotal role of religion in current cultural contestations taking place in this strategic region. Engaging with a wide range of case studies, the book offers a fresh, comparative examination of migration as it relates to different countries and religious groups in the region.
Contents
Introduction; Eleni Sideri and Lydia Efthymia Roupakia.- Part I. Religion and Diasporas.- 1. Historical Diasporas, Religion and Identity: Exploring The Case Of The Greeks Of Tsalka; Eleni Sideri.- 2. The Armenian Community in Thessaloniki: The Dynamics Of Religion; Niki Papageorgiou.- Part II. Religion and Transnational Migration.- 3. Return Migration in A Romanian Catholic Community; Elena Tudor4. Distinctive Patterns of Transnational Migration From A Romanian Village; AlexandraDeliu.- Part III. Religious Identities and Regional Identities.- 5. Emic-Coherence and Ethnic Identity: The Case of Fereydani Georgians; Babak Rezvani.- 6. Bulgarian -Muslims in Turkey: Religion, Identification and Social Participation (The Case Of The 1989 Re-Settlers From Bulgaria to Turkey); Magdalena Elchinova.- Afterword; Eleni Sideri and Lydia Efthymia Roupakia.
