Ehlimana Memisevic

The end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries were marked by continued migration of Muslim populations from the Balkans region, which is a consequence of the disintegration of the Ottoman state and the rise of nationalism. According to the official statistics, in the period from 1878 to 1918, a total of 1.5 million Muslims left the Balkans, while 100,000 Muslims left Bosnia during the Austro-Hungarian rule. In this research, by placing the experience of Bosnian Muslims and their reactions to migrations in a comparative perspective with the other Balkan states, including Bulgaria, "A Search for Belonging" tries to ascertain the extent to which the experience of Bosnian Muslims may be considered as a part of Balkan Muslims’ migrations, and what is specific to the Bosnian Muslims’ context.