Adnan Jahić: Forging a new paradigm for the study of Bosniak history
Adnan Jahić: Forging a New Paradigm for The Study of Bosniak History

Summary/Abstract: Over the past three decades, historian Adnan Jahić has played a central role in writing a new Bosniak history. Researching topics as diverse as the evolution of Islamic institutions from the Habsburg empire to the socialist period, debates over gender and modernity, the experiences and transformation of Balkan Muslim societies during wartime, and Bosniak responses to World War II, Jahić has unearthed the historical narratives of people, regions, ideas, movements, and publications that were silenced or marginalized in the historical record of the twentieth century and reintegrated them into the historiography of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of Europe. While recognized as an important voice in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jahić’s scholarship has also left a global imprint.In this essay, I briefly introduce some of the many contributions of Jahić’s scholarship and demonstrate ways that it intersects with global movements and historiographical conversations. First, I examine Jahić’s important role in shifting the historical paradigm for the study of Bosniaks in World War II, which was critical for moving beyond the dominant Yugoslav state socialist production of history. Then I turn to the question of diversity of thought among Bosniak elites, especially members of the ulema, reflecting on how Jahić has challenged homogenous approaches to the study of national histories. Finally, I examine the ways that Jahić has challenged standard Yugoslav periodization, bringing together new kinds of connections for thinking about Bosniak history

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