VITAE

 

I was born in the village of İbrahimler,* Ardino municipality, in the Eastern Rhodopes of southern Bulgaria. After completing elementary school in my village, and middle school in Hotaşlı (Rusalsko), I continued my education at the 'Sabahattin Ali' high school in Eğridere Map 2(Ardino). I ALI1~1dropped out of high school in the tenth grade for reasons not worth telling here. In fall 1959 I was admitted to the building trades' school (Зградостроително Училище) in Kırcali. If I had remained in Bulgaria I would have become an erector, a spider-man. But fate had something else planned for me. While in trade school I met a young man from Koşukavak (Krumovgrad) by the name of Ahmet Halilov. We became close friends. On his initiative we decided to escape from Bulgaria. On February 1, 1960 we managed to escape into Greece. In December 1960, after close to a year's stay in Greece, I came to the United States of America. After learning English in night classes, I completed my high school education at Hartford Public High School in Hartford, Connecticut. I continued my education at Central Connecticut State College in New Britain, Connecticut majoring in Anthropology, Sociology, and Social Psychology and earned my Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in 1969. I did graduate work in Social and Cultural Anthropology at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, earning a Master of Arts (M.A.) in 1972 and a Doctorate (Ph.D.) in 1976. I taught for one year as a Visiting Assistant Professor (1976-77) at Colby-Sawyer College for Women in New London, New Hampshire and one year as Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology (1977-78) at State University of New York, Cortland. In the fall of 1979 I secured a tenure-track position at Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska. Between 1979 and 2003 I taught a wide variety of anthropology and sociology courses at this college as Assistant, Associate, and full Professor. I retired in 2003. I still live in Wayne, Nebraska with my wife Catherine who is a professor of Linguistics at Wayne State College. Our sons Adem and Deniz are students at the University of Minnesota.

 

I did research and wrote articles on the history and experience of Turks and other Muslims living in Bulgaria and other Balkan countries. My articles have appeared in Ethnic Groups, International Journal of Turkish Studies, Nationalities Papers, Islamic Studies, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Third World Review, Folia Slavica, Anthropology of East Europe Review, Journal of Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe and elsewhere. A few of these articles, revised and expanded, are included in my monograph, Turkish and Other Muslim Minorities of Bulgaria (London: C. Hurst Publishers; New York: Routledge, 1997). The book was awarded the John D. Bell Book Prize in 1999 by the Bulgarian Studies Association "for most outstanding recent scholarly book within an area of Bulgarian studies." I continue to do research and to write on these topics in my retirement.

 

* The name of the village was changed to Avramovo in 1934. It is the Bulgarian equivalent of İbrahimler, meaning "İbrahims' village" or "Avrams' village" in Bulgarian. The Turkish names of hundreds of villages and towns throughout the country were Bulgarianized during the same year.

 

ALI EMINOV

Emeritus Prof. of Anthropology

School of Natural and Social Sciences

Dept. of Sociology, Psychology and Criminal Justice

Wayne State College

Wayne, NE 68787

 

(402) 375-7256 (Office)

(402) 375-4316 (Home)
e-mail: alemino1@wsc.edu

Home Page:  https://academic.wsc.edu/faculty/alemino1/

 

Education

B.A. Central Connecticut State College, New Britain, Connecticut, 1969

M.A. Indiana University, Bloomington, 1972

Ph.D. Indiana University, Bloomington, 1976

 

Employment

Emeritus Prof. of Anthropology, 2003

Wayne State College, Assistant Professor (1979-1983), Associate Professor (1983-1988), Professor (1988-2003)

State University of New York at Cortland, Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology, 1977-78

Colby-Sawyer College for Women, New London, New Hampshire. Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology, 1976-77

Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, Associate Instructor and Instructor, 1971-76

 

Courses Taught

Introduction to Anthropology; Introduction to Cultural Anthropology; Introduction to Physical Anthropology and Archeology; Political Anthropology; Introduction to Sociology; Introduction to Social Science; Urban Sociology; Marriage and the Family; Peasant Society and Culture; Religion and Culture; The Concept of Culture in the Social Sciences; Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East; Native Americans; Multicultural America (Race and Ethnic Relations); Psychological Anthropology (Culture and Personality);Social Problems: Qualitative Research Methods

 

Teaching and Research Interests

Cross-cultural studies of ethnic and minority relations; Modernization and change in complex societies; Anthropology of politics and law; Turks of Bulgaria; Islam and Muslims in the Balkans; Problems of transition from communism to post-communism; Turkic minorities in Russia; Southeastern Europe, Middle East, North Africa

 

Membership in Professional Organizations

American Anthropological Association

Society for the Anthropology of Europe

Bulgarian Studies Assocaition

Southeastern European Studies Association

 

Publications

Books:

Turkish and Other Muslim Minorities of Bulgaria. London: C. Hurst Publishers/New York: Routledge, 1997. (Awarded the 1999 John D. Bell Book Prize by the Bulgarian Studies Association "for most outstanding recent scholarly book within an area of Bulgarian studies.")

 

Articles

"L'assimilation des Turcs de Bulgarie," Zaman France, 8/18/2009 (Based on an interview of Ali Eminov by Nassira el Moaddem). Available at, fr.zaman.com.tr/fr/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=1274&bolum=229

"Social construction of identities: Pomaks in Bulgaria," Journal of Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe, 2 (2007):1-24. Available at www.ecmi.de/jemie/download/2-2007-Eminov.pdf

"Bulgaristan Tűrkleri,"  Balkanlarda Tűrk Kűltűrű, 12, 45 (2002). www.balgoc.org.tr/dergi_45.html

"Bulgaristan Tűrkleri,"  Balkanlarda Tűrk Kűltűrű, 13, 46 (2003):7. www.balgoc.org.tr/dergi/dergi_46.html

"Bulgaristan Tűrkleri,"  Balkanlarda Tűrk Kűltűrű, 13, 47 (2003):8-9. www.balgoc.org.tr/2003/dergi/dergi_47f.html

"The nation-state and minority languages: Turkish in Bulgaria." In Victor Friedman and Donald Dyer, eds. Of All the Slavs My Favorites: In Honor of Howard I. Aronson on the Occasion of His 66th Birthday. Indiana Slavic Studies, Vol. 12, 2001. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University, (2002). 155-169

"The Turks of Bulgaria: 1944-1983." In Hasan Celal Gűzel and C. Cem Oguz Osman Karatay, eds. The Turks, 6 vols. Vol. 6: The Turkish World. Ankara: Yeni Tűrkiye, (2002):584-591

"Bulgaristan'da Tűrkler (1945-1983)." In Hasan Celal Gűzel, Kemal Cicek and Salim Koca, eds. Tűrkler, 21 vols.  Vol. 20: Tűrk Dűnyasi. Ankara: Yeni Tűrkiye, (2002):377-384.

"Turks and Tatars in Bulgaria and the Balkans," Nationalities Papers, 28, 1 (2000):129-164.

"The Turks in Bulgaria: post-1989 developments," Nationalities Papers, 27, 1 (1999):31-55.

"Islam and Muslims in Bulgaria: a brief history," Islamic Studies, 36, 2- 3 (1997):209-241.

"The Movement for Rights and Freedoms and the issue of Turkish language instruction in Bulgaria," Balkanistica, 10 (1997):144-161.

"Recent elections and the emergence of competing political cultures in Bulgaria." In Proceedings of the Seventeenth European Studies Conference 1992. Cedar Falls, Iowa: University of Northern Iowa, (1994):121-131.

"Bulgarian nationalism and Turkish language in Bulgaria." In E. Fraenkel and Christina Kramer, eds., Language Contact -- Language Conflict. New York: Peter Lang, (1993):43-71. (co-author Catherine Rudin)

"Bulgarian Turkish: the linguistic effects of recent nationality policy, "Anthropological Linguistics, 32, 1-2 (1992):149-162. (co-author Catherine Rudin)

"Nationality policy in the USSR and in Bulgaria: some observations," The Anthropology of East Europe Review, 9, 2 (1990):3-12. Available at, condor.depaul.edu/~rrotenbe/aeer/aeer_92html#Articles

"There are no Turks in Bulgaria: rewriting history by administrative fiat,"  International Journal of Turkish Studies, 4, 3 (1989):203-222. (Also appears in Kemal Karpat, ed. The Turks of Bulgaria: The History, Culture, and Political Fate of a Minority. Istanbul: Isis Press, (1990):203-222).

"Flight from the People's Republic of Bulgaria," [a poem] Anthropology and Humanism Quarterly, 14, 3 (1989):108.

"The elimination of Turkish language instruction in Bulgaria." In Karl Odwarka, ed. Proceedings of the Fourteenth European Studies Conference 1989. Cedar Falls, Iowa: University of Northern Iowa, (1989):91-98.

"The ideological construction of ethnic identities in Eastern Europe: the case of Bulgaria." In Karl Odwarka, ed. Proceedings of the Thirteenth European Studies Conference 1988. Cedar Falls, Iowa: University of Northern Iowa, (1988):106-114.

"The status of Islam and Muslims in Bulgaria," Journal, Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, 8, 2 (1987):278-301.

"The Future of Turkish minority in Bulgaria." In Karl Odwarka, ed. Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual European Studies Conference 1987. Cedar Falls, Iowa: University of Northern Iowa, (1987): 98-106.

"Are Turkish speakers in Bulgaria of ethnic Bulgarian origin?" Journal, Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, 7, 2 (1986):503-518.

"The education of Turkish speakers in Bulgaria," Ethnic Groups: An International Periodical of Ethnic Studies, 5, 3 (1983):129-149.

"Soviet language policy: continuities and detours," Folia Slavica, 5 (1982):136-151.

"Soviet nationality policy: in theory and practice," Third World Review, 3, 2 (1977):102-112.

 

Book Reviews

Mary Neuburger, The Orient Within: Muslim Minorities and the Negotiation of Nationhood in Modern Bulgaria. International Journal of Turkish Studies, 11, 1-2 (2005): 166-170.

Deema Kaneff, Who Owns the Past? The Politics of Time in a 'Model' Bulgarian Village. Slavic Review, 64, 1 (2005):180-181.

Stephen Barbour and Cathie Carmichael, eds. Language and Nationalism in Europe. Language: Journal of the Linguistic Society of America, 79, 1 (2003): 215-216.

Paul A. Chilton, Mihail V. Ilyin and Jacob L. Mey, eds. Political Discourse in Transtition in Europe, 1989-1991. Language, 78, 3 (2002):571-73.

Geoffrey Lewis, The Turkish Language Reform: A Catastrophic Success. Language, 77, 2 (2001):384-386.

Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, Genocide in Education or Worldwide Diversity and Human Rights. Language, 77, 2 (2001)::421-422.

Victor Roudometof, ed. The Macedonian Question: Culture, Historiography, Politics. Slavic Review, 60, 3 (2001):631-632.

Christian Bratt Paulston and Donald Peckham, eds. Linguistic Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe. Language, 76, 3 (2000):732-733.

Duncan M. Perry, Stefan Stambolov and the Emergence of Modern Bulgaria, 1870-1895. Slavic Review, (1995), pp. 933-935.

Gerasimus Augustinow, The Greeks of Asia Minor: Confession, Community and Ethnicity in the Nineteenth Century. European Studies Journal, 11, 1 (1994):65-69.

Albanians of Rrogam. A Film in the Disappearing World Series. American Anthropologist, 95, 2 (1993):515-517.

Bernard McCrane, Beyond Anthropology: Society and the Other. European Studies Journal, 7, 1 (1991):107-109.

Ivan Volgues, Politics in Eastern Europe. The European Studies Journal, 6, 2 (1989):63-65.

Richard Lowenta, Model or Ally? Communist Powers and the Developing Countries. Third World Review, 4, 1978):86-87.

 

Bibliographies on Turks and Other Muslim in Bulgaria on the Internet

Bulgarian-speaking Muslims (Pomaks). Available at, academic.wsc.edu/faculty/alemino1/biblios-pomaks.html

Turkish Language/Dialects in Bulgaria. Available at, academic.wsc.edu/faculty/alemino1/biblios-turkish_language.html

Select Works by Native Turkish Writers in Bulgaria. Available at, academic.wsc.edu/faculty/alemino1/biblios-select_works_by_native_turks.html

Turks and Other Muslims in Bulgaria. Available at, academic.wsc.edu/faculty/alemino1/biblios-turks_and_other_muslims.html

 

Unpublished Conference Presentations

The Theme of Forced Assimilation in Turkish Short Stories from Bulgaria. Third Conference of SEESA (Southeast European Studies Association). Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, April 26-28, 2007.

The Ethnicization of Poverty in Post-socialist Bulgaria. 29th Annual European Studies Conference, University of Nebraska at Omaha, October 14-16, 2004.

From Communism to Democracy: Muslim Minorities in Bulgaria. Symposium on Islam: From Eastern Europe to Central Asia, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, June 22, 2002.

Political Pluralism and Minorities in Bulgaria. 26th Annual European Studies Conference, October 4-6, University of Nebraska at Omaha, October 4-6, 2001.

Muslim Minorities and Human Rights in Bulgaria and Greece. Conference on Islam and Human Rights in Post-Communist Europe, Sofia, Bulgaria, March 15-16, 1999.

Turkish in Bulgaria. Conference on Language and Nationalities in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Columbus, Ohio, 1991.

Language and Nationalism in Bulgaria. Twenty-second Convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Washington, D.C., 1990.

Inequality between the Sexes: Theory and Reality. Conference on Women and Society, Wayne State College, Wayne, Nebraska, 1990

Official Ideology and Turkish Ethnicity in Bulgaria. American Anthropological Association, Chicago, 1987.

Turkish Ethnicity in Bulgaria. Central States Anthropological Society, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1984.

The Sociolinguistics of a Turkish Village in Bulgaria. Midwest Slavic Conference, Columbus, Ohio, 1984 (co-presenter Catherine Rudin)

A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Teaching of Social Sciences. Western Social Science Association, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1983. (co-presenter Clifton Ginn)

Educational Policies of the Bulgarian Government toward Non-Bulgarian Speakers. Balkan Studies Conference, Bloomington, Indiana, 1982.

The Study of Current Ethnic Processes in the Soviet Union: Claims and Evidence. American Anthropological Association, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1979.

Soviet Perspectives on Ethnicity: The Conceptual Framework. American Anthropological Association, Los Angeles, 1978.

 

Unpublished Manuscripts

A Selection of Turkish Short Stories from Bulgaria Translated into English.

Bulgaristan'da "Hak ve Őzgűrlűk" Gazetesinde Yayınlanan Őykűlerden Secmeler (An Anthology of Turkish Short Stories from Bulgaria, published in "Hak ve Őzgűrlűk" newspaper). Unpublishded manuscript.

Bulgaristan'da "Hak ve Őzgűrlűk" Gazetesinde Yayınlanan Şiirlerden Secmeler (An Anthology of Turkish Poetry from Bulgaria, published in "Hak ve Őzgűrlűk" newspaper). Unpublished manuscript.

 

Manuscripts under Preparation

Revise and expand Turkish and Other Muslim Minorities of Bulgaria.

Fragments of Memory: An Autobiography.

Forced Assimilation and the Fate of Native Turkish Intellectuals in Bulgaria.

A List of Turkish Villages and Towns in Bulgaria

Post-1989 Politics and Muslim Minorities

Presentations to Non-professional Groups

"The Concept of Culture [Cultures of Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay]." LEAD Seminars, November 18, 2002, Wayne State College.  Has made presentations at LEAD seminars on the concept of culture, cultural etiquette and other cultural issues going back to 1982.

"The Concept of Culture [Cultures of Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia]." LEAD Seminars, November 2001, Wayne State College.

Presented (with Catherine Rudin) an evening of Bulgarian culture, history, music, dance and food to the Young Moderns Extension Club in Stanton, NE on September 10, 2001.  A Bulgarian dinner, cooked by the members of the Club following authentic Bulgarian recipes suggested by Catherine Rudin, ended the evening.

"Muslims in Bulgaria and Romania." Foreign Service Institute (Arlington, VA), November, 1999, 2000.

"Muslim Minorities in Southeastern Europe."  Lecture-discussion, Lessons of the Century, Wayne State College. October 7, 1999.

"Muslim Minorities in Bulgaria."  Brown Bag Lecture Series of the Russian and East European Center, University of Illinois, July 27, 1999.

"Muslims in Bulgaria."  Foreign Service Institute (Arlington, VA), 1998.

"Gypsies in Eastern Europe today." Summer Workshops on East European Languages, Indiana University, 1996.

"Culture and society in Bulgaria," and "Culture and society in Turkey." LEAD Seminars, Wayne State College, 1996.

Presented an in-service program on Bulgarian and Turkish culture to the Wayne Community Schools faculty and staff, 1996. (with Catherine Rudin)

"The problems of transition in Bulgaria." Summer Workshops on East European Languages, Indiana University, 1995.

"Bulgaria." Kiwanis International, Wayne, 1991.

"The Middle East in world affairs." Redeemer Lutheran Study Group, Wayne, 1991.

"A brief history of Kuwait." Middle East Forum, Wayne State College, 1990.

"Socialism and communism after Marx." Neihardt Scholars Colloquia, Wayne State College, 1990.

"Turkish minority in Bulgaria." Interview with BBC, 1989.

"The persecution of Muslims in Bulgaria." Muslim Students Association, Urbana, Illinois.

"N. Scott Momaday's The Way to Rainy Mountain." West Point Public Library, 1985.

"Lakota of the Plains." Stanton County Historical Society, Stanton, NE, 1985.

Humanist Scholar in Great Plains Experience. Presentations on the Lakota of the Great Plains in Wayne, Norfolk, Hardington, and Columbus, 1983-1985.

"Cross-cultural perspectives on alcohol use." High Spirits Experience, Wayne State College, 1981.

 

Grants and Awards

1999. Travel Grant from the Center for the Study of Human Rights, Columbia University, to present a paper titled, Muslim Minorities and Human Rights in Bulgaria and Greece, at a Conference on Islam and Human Rights in Post-Communist Europe, Sofia, Bulgaria, March 15-16.

1999. John D. Bell Book Prize for Turkish and Other Muslim Minorities of Bulgaria awarded by the Bulgarian Studies Association "for most outstanding recent scholarly book within an area of Bulgarian studies."

Certificate of recognition for fifteen years of service to Nebraska Delta Chapter, Pi Gamma Mu International, 1996.

A short-term travel grant from IREX (International Research and Exchanges Board) to present a paper titled, The Turks in Bulgaria: Post-1989 Developments, at the 5th World Congress for Central and East European Studies, Warsaw, Poland, 1995.

Research Associate, Slavic Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1985, 1988, 1994, 1999, and 2002.

Wayne State Foundation Faculty Renewal Grant, 1988.

Outstanding Faculty Member in Social Sciences, 1986.

Wayne State College Instructional Improvement grants, 1981, 1982.

Indiana University Research Assistantships, 1969-71; Teaching Assistantships, 1969-1976.

Office of Economic Opportunity grants, 1965-67.

Who's Who in the Midwest.

Created December 22, 1999; Last updated May 12, 2009