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在过去几年间，总是沉浸在神秘的过去,发现如何创建和转换民族认同感一直被认为是极为有趣的。贯穿古代,直到现在,文化利润率或缩小或扩大,在这些国家和少数民族之间建立相互作用和相互影响,宗教和文化转换频繁发生,在历史的大熔炉中，新的与众不同的独特性已经开始存在。当我们对保加利亚穆斯林进行探讨的时候，这是特别有效的。

此外,最重要的是要认识到,在过去的数年间，有关政治诉求和种族的无休止的猜测已经成为保加利亚穆斯林世界或波马克人最经常讨论的主题。西欧人种学的和历史的研究文献对此的研究仍然非常贫瘠。大多数翻译工作,指出波马克人是来自希腊,塞尔维亚、土耳其或马其顿。因此,我们可以公平地说，抑制保加利亚地区扩张，说保加利亚语言的穆斯林飞地故事,必须从保加利亚的角度考虑,这也是本文研究的主要目的。

Religious conversion, cultural identity and national belonging: The world of Bulgarian Muslims (Pomaks).

Introduction

It is always interesting to immerse in the mysterious past and to discover how the sense of national identity is created and transformed over the years. Throughout olden times and until now, cultural margins have shrunk or expanded, established nations and minorities within these have interacted with and influenced each other, religious and cultural conversions have frequently taken place and in the melting pot of history new distinctive uniqueness has begun to exist. This is particularly valid when the case of Bulgarian Muslims is discussed.

Moreover, it is important to recognise here that the world of Bulgarian Muslims or Pomaks has been a subject of endless speculations and ethnic and political claims over the years and it is still very much unknown to the Western European ethnological and historical research literature. Much of the translated work that refers to the Pomaks is from Greek, Serbian, Turkish or Macedonian origin. Therefore it is, fair to say that the story of this Muslim enclave that inhibits mostly Bulgarian territories and speaks Bulgarian language, must be considered from a Bulgarian point of view and this is the main aim here.

Consequently, this essay will examine the world of Bulgarian Muslims or Pomaks, their religious conversion from Christianity to Islam and the formation and transformation of their cultural identity and sense of national belonging. To accomplish all this, the essay will firstly discuss the religious conversion of the Pomaks, its background, character, mode and outcomes and how it has laid the foundations of Bulgarian Muslims’ cultural identity. In addition, this paper will comment on the transformation of the cultural identity and sense of national belonging of Bulgarian Muslims. Finally, it will conclude with thoughts on self-perception, perception of others and future hopes.

Definition of the term Bulgarian Muslims or Pomaks

Before elaborating further on all abovementioned points, there is a need to establish and define the term Bulgarian Muslims and describe it in Bulgarian context. In order to achieve this, two reliable sources will be cited.

Commenting on the issue of cultural belonging and religious identity of Muslims in Bulgaria, Kemal Karpat, a Turkish historian and researcher, states that:

The Muslim identity of these populations consisted outwardly of certain objective symbols and acts such as names and rituals...and at their place of origin they tended to identify themselves with Islam in terms of social behaviour, rather than in terms of a political system...an本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。