Teaching about "The Turks" - The Ottoman Empire in Socialist Bosnian-Herzegovinian History Textbooks (1945-1990)

Abstract

This thesis studies the depictions of the Ottoman Period (ca. 1463 – 1878) in History textbooks printed in Socialist Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1945 and 1990. It examines the influence of the process of recognition of the Muslim nation in Yugoslavia/Bosnia between 1960-1974 on the textbooks’ depiction of the Ottoman Empire, considered crucial for the Muslims’ historical development. It employs combined qualitative methods to analyze change over time of the contents of the textbooks, before the Muslim recognition (1945-1960), during the process of Muslim recognition (1961-1974) and after it to the end of Socialist Yugoslavia (1975-1990). The thesis examines the function the content served critically and against the grain of scholarship, modern and ex-Yugoslav. It engages with the debates on (ex-)Yugoslav textbooks to highlight some deficiencies in the scholarship, but also study a topic neglected so far. Ministry documents, textbook reviews, curricula and newspapers are also consulted to integrate the textbooks in their appropriate context and relate them to sub-questions regarding the education system, history-writing and discussion of Muslim national identity. The thesis reveals how there were stark continuities in Socialist Yugoslav history-writing with preceding historiographical traditions that depicted the Ottoman Empire as hostile and backward. Secondly, this depiction, evolved with the Muslim recognition and political changes within Yugoslavia. This meant presenting certain aspects of Ottoman rule more positively, albeit to a very limited extent, mirroring the extent of the national recognition of the Muslim nation. Finally, the thesis questions how deep the transformations of the Yugoslav Socialist experiment were, especially considering how the demonized “Turk,” once again emerged in the wars of conquest waged against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the wake of the breakup of Yugoslavia. This same specter emerges in Bosnian public discourse today.