The article is based on the detailed fieldwork that I conducted between 2003 and 2006 in Jesenice. It is exploring the practices of covering among Slovenian Muslim women, specifically Bosniaks. It describes concrete practices of covering, analyses Koran ayat and hadith, religious foundations for covering, presents the most widespread interpretations by Islamic intellectuals and researchers, and lastly turns attention to Bosniak interpretations of primary Islamic sources and their concrete implementation in practice. Interpretations of Koran ayat and hadith in which the covering is justified, are various and are in different environments manifested through very different material shapes and practices. Different understandings of the practice of covering are influenced by factors such as individual’s interpretations of Islam, education, personality and environment in which those interpretations take place, and is more important than Islamic sources, i.e. the text. The same is relevant for Slovenian Muslim women, the Bosniaks.
KEY WORDS: veiling, Islam, women Bosniaks, hijab, Koran

The article is based on the detailed fieldwork that I conducted between 2003 and 2006 in Jesenice. It is exploring the practices of covering among Slovenian Muslim women, specifically Bosniaks. It describes concrete practices of covering, analyses Koran ayat and hadith, religious foundations for covering, presents the most widespread interpretations by Islamic intellectuals and researchers, and lastly turns attention to Bosniak interpretations of primary Islamic sources and their concrete implementation in practice. Interpretations of Koran ayat and hadith in which the covering is justified, are various and are in different environments manifested through very different material shapes and practices. Different understandings of the practice of covering are influenced by factors such as individual’s interpretations of Islam, education, personality and environment in which those interpretations take place, and is more important than Islamic sources, i.e. the text. The same is relevant for Slovenian Muslim women, the Bosniaks.
KEY WORDS: veiling, Islam, women Bosniaks, hijab, Koran

Traditional understanding of refugee return as one-time and a definite act has recently been vigorously criticized by the theoreticians and researchers in refugee studies. It seems that in a short period of time opinion prevailed that return is always a complex long-term and diversified process, which in each of its phases can become reversible. Filed researches already ‘revealed’ that many returnees do not stay actually in their places and homeland of origin but re-emigrate. This finding has lead to conclusion that simple crossing of boarder in opposite direction is not the real indicator of return. Instead, it should be successful i.e. sustainable. The most common ‘measure’ of sustainability is absence of repeated migration. The authors have conceptualized and operacionalized seven aspects of return sustainability: I. the extent of return durability; II. feeling of safety; III. socio-demographic characteristics of returnees; IV. socio-economic conditions; V. refugee experience and orientation towards return; VI. citizenship and minority rights; VII. subjective perception of living conditions. Here are only findings relating to the first dimension presented and discussed, accompanied by the returnee typology proposed by the authors, in order to better understand complexity of return movements. They differentiate the following types of returnees: A) unconditional permanent; B) conditional permanent; C) semi-returnees or transnational; D) non-formal; E) formal or quasi-returnees.
KEY WORDS: refugees, returnees, Croatia, Serbs, sustainability of return, types of returnees

Traditional understanding of refugee return as one-time and a definite act has recently been vigorously criticized by the theoreticians and researchers in refugee studies. It seems that in a short period of time opinion prevailed that return is always a complex long-term and diversified process, which in each of its phases can become reversible. Filed researches already ‘revealed’ that many returnees do not stay actually in their places and homeland of origin but re-emigrate. This finding has lead to conclusion that simple crossing of boarder in opposite direction is not the real indicator of return. Instead, it should be successful i.e. sustainable. The most common ‘measure’ of sustainability is absence of repeated migration. The authors have conceptualized and operacionalized seven aspects of return sustainability: I. the extent of return durability; II. feeling of safety; III. socio-demographic characteristics of returnees; IV. socio-economic conditions; V. refugee experience and orientation towards return; VI. citizenship and minority rights; VII. subjective perception of living conditions. Here are only findings relating to the first dimension presented and discussed, accompanied by the returnee typology proposed by the authors, in order to better understand complexity of return movements. They differentiate the following types of returnees: A) unconditional permanent; B) conditional permanent; C) semi-returnees or transnational; D) non-formal; E) formal or quasi-returnees.
KEY WORDS: refugees, returnees, Croatia, Serbs, sustainability of return, types of returnees

This paper illustrates and explains how the villagers of Dhërmi/Drimades in Southern Albania envision and shape “their” place as a distinct region in relation to the European Union’s regional policies. Special attention is given to the local discourses about the inclusion and/or exclusion of the village space into and from the European Union, which is often referred to by the notion of Europe or Europi/Europa. The paper aims to explore the ways in which local people construct their regional identity and how they discuss it in their everyday lives. It questions the influences of historical, social, cultural, political and economic changes in postcommunist Albania on people’s perceptions of modernity, which they axiomatically link with “Europe” or the “West”. The paper argues that the local people of Dhërmi/Drimades negotiate their social and spatial boundaries and thus reconstruct their regional identity and belonging through debates about modernity and modernisation.
KEY WORDS: regionalism, modernity and modernisation, social and spatial boundaries, Southern Albania

This paper illustrates and explains how the villagers of Dhërmi/Drimades in Southern Albania envision and shape “their” place as a distinct region in relation to the European Union’s regional policies. Special attention is given to the local discourses about the inclusion and/or exclusion of the village space into and from the European Union, which is often referred to by the notion of Europe or Europi/Europa. The paper aims to explore the ways in which local people construct their regional identity and how they discuss it in their everyday lives. It questions the influences of historical, social, cultural, political and economic changes in postcommunist Albania on people’s perceptions of modernity, which they axiomatically link with “Europe” or the “West”. The paper argues that the local people of Dhërmi/Drimades negotiate their social and spatial boundaries and thus reconstruct their regional identity and belonging through debates about modernity and modernisation.
KEY WORDS: regionalism, modernity and modernisation, social and spatial boundaries, Southern Albania

The article outlines the attitude of the Serbian nation, whose identity is to a great extent built on the belonging to Orthodox Christendom, towards Muslims – both towards Albanians, who are perceived as “undeniably other,” as well as those who are perceived as “less other,” such as the Gorani in Kosovo and the Bosniaks in the region of Sandžak and Kosovo. While this gradation is based on two relatively stable (at least at the synchronic level) categories – language and religion, the ethnic/national category often reveals itself as subject to negotiation, change, convergence and divergence. These processes engage both majority communities – i.e. those engaged in the nation-building process, and minority communities, i.e. those who negotiate their own status and position in this process driven by others.
KEY WORDS: Serbs, Albanians, Muslims, Other, identity, nation-building

The article outlines the attitude of the Serbian nation, whose identity is to a great extent built on the belonging to Orthodox Christendom, towards Muslims – both towards Albanians, who are perceived as “undeniably other,” as well as those who are perceived as “less other,” such as the Gorani in Kosovo and the Bosniaks in the region of Sandžak and Kosovo. While this gradation is based on two relatively stable (at least at the synchronic level) categories – language and religion, the ethnic/national category often reveals itself as subject to negotiation, change, convergence and divergence. These processes engage both majority communities – i.e. those engaged in the nation-building process, and minority communities, i.e. those who negotiate their own status and position in this process driven by others.
KEY WORDS: Serbs, Albanians, Muslims, Other, identity, nation-building

The present study examines a view of the “Other” in the enclave of Prilužje (Kosovo). The image of the “Other” was obtained by qualitative analysis of interviews made with Serbs in this enclave.
KEY WORDS: Serbs, Kosovo, Other, enclave

The present study examines a view of the “Other” in the enclave of Prilužje (Kosovo). The image of the “Other” was obtained by qualitative analysis of interviews made with Serbs in this enclave.
KEY WORDS: Serbs, Kosovo, Other, enclave