Middle East Media and Book Reviews Online Volume 1, Issue 1 | Page 25

2/2/2016

Middle East Media and Book Reviews Online

Muslims in Poland and Eastern Europe. Widening the European Discourse on Islam
By: Katarzyna Gorak-Sosnowska, Editor
Muslims in Poland and Eastern Europe. Widening the European Discourse on Islam. Warsaw, Poland: University of
Warsaw, Faculty of Oriental Studies, 2011. 343pp. ISBN: 9788390322957.
Volume: 1 Issue: 1
April 2013
Review by
Renat Shaykhutdinov, PhD
Florida Atlantic University
Boca Raton, FL.
Various aspects pertaining to Islam have currently gained a prominent place in global academic and public discourse. However, in many, if not
most instances the debates on Islam tend to focus on those geographic areas where Muslims constitute majorities, as in the Middle East, North
Africa, and Southeast Asia; or where they are perceived by many as suspect minorities with implications for national and personal security, as in
parts of North America and Western Europe. Until very recently, Eastern Europe and, indeed much of the post-Communist world, has been
overlooked by the global English-language mainstream and more local (West) European discourses on Islam. In a few instances, when attention is
focused on East European Islam, it is viewed through the prism of national and regional security and stability. This volume edited by GórakSosnowska enriches this debate by adding an array of important experiences, observations, and analyses from Central and Eastern Europe, which in
some cases affirm the global trends, but in many others challenge or moderate them.
The book features 20 distinct chapters by some of the most prominent country and area experts, which are preceded by a forward and introductory
chapter by the editor. The volume examines Islamic encounters in a total of nine countries through a multitude of theoretical and methodological
lenses. Specifically, among the topics included in the analyses are cultural and literary studies, issues in migration, linguistic behavior, gender
relations, relations between various groups within the Muslim communities, conversion, interfaith dialogue, revival and survival of autochthonous
Muslim groups, social justice, and intersections between religious and ethnic identities of minority groups. These issues are examined using
predominantly qualitative methods, including interviews, participant observation, mass media analysis, examination of online forums, and internet
surveys. The book is divided in two major parts. A larger part (12 chapters) is devoted to examining Islam and Muslims specifically in Poland. In
the second part of the book, eight chapters look into the questions pertaining to Islam in other parts of Eastern Europe.
It is difficult to do justice to all of the chapters examined in Muslims in Poland and Eastern Europe in a short book review; however I see at least
two major contributions that the authors of this volume have made. First, and foremost, I agree with the editor that this volume importantly qualifies
“the deterministic approach,” which predominates (West) European, and, generally, “Western discourse on Islam” which sees Islam as a force that
“hinders integration of Muslims in the mainstream society of the West” (p. 24). In contrast, this volume shows that Islam has been a fact of life for
hundreds of years in the central and eastern parts of the continent. Consequently, transferring unquestionably West European intellectual and
policy-oriented approaches for understanding or dealing with East European Muslim populations is inappropriate. After all, an average Muslim of
the West is fundamentally different from an average Muslim of the Eastt. While low levels of integration and socioeconomic conditions are among
the key problems pertaining to West European Muslims, autochthonous East European Muslims have shaped the cultures and societies of their
homelands, often at the risk of assimilation or losing a distinct cultural identity, which are among the challenges currently faced by these
collectivities.
Despite the caution that East European governments and societies should exercise in adopting West European approaches while dealing with their
Muslim populations, this volume implies that the positive developments of West European nations in integrating immigrant Muslim populations
constitute an important lesson for Eastern Europe as the region is swiftly changing its status from a place of net o ]ZYܘ][ۈ