Those Who Stayed, 1922 by Dalachanis, Angelos; Rappas, Alexis;

Short description:

The volume uses diverse methodologies—archival research, network analysis, microhistory, and translocal perspectives – to investigate the lived experiences of entrenched minorities.

Long description:

The year 1922 marks a major turning point in Eastern Mediterranean history, with the abolition of the Ottoman Sultanate concluding a long period of upheaval known as the “Eastern Question.” As the empire gave way to European colonization and the nation-state model, its once multicultural societies were homogenized through violence, population transfers, and treaties. The liberal principle of national self-determination often led to devastating human costs, as populations were either massacred, forcibly exchanged, or reduced to “minorities” within new political entities.

While scholarship has thoroughly documented the demographic changes that accompanied the post-Ottoman transition, this volume focuses on a less explored dimension: the agency of those labeled as minorities. It examines how these communities navigated their new reality within emerging nation-states or League of Nations mandates. Adopting a broad and situational understanding of “minority,” it includes both legally defined groups and those marginalized in practice, such as Muslims in Western Thrace, Christians in Istanbul, Armenians in Jerusalem, Muslims in Serbia, and Jews in Salonica.

The volume uses diverse methodologies—archival research, network analysis, microhistory, and translocal perspectives – to investigate the lived experiences of entrenched minorities. It offers new insights into both lesser-known and familiar minority groups, while engaging critically with existing literature. By emphasizing these groups’ strategies and resilience, the volume challenges narratives dominated by violence and nostalgia, offering a more nuanced understanding of post-1922 Eastern Mediterranean history. It will appeal not only to scholars of minority studies but to anyone interested in the region’s modern past.

Table of Contents:

Introduction: Minority Forms of Resilience in the Post-Ottoman World

Part 1: Shifting Grounds for Transient Minorities

Chapter 1

Civilising Mission or Reproduction of the Ottoman Governance? Minorities and Greek Imperial Formation in the Occupied Territories of Trabzon and Smyrna (1916-1922)

Lukas Tsıptsıos

Chapter 2

Catholic Entrenchment, Political Incertitude and Global Relief in Occupied Istanbul (1918-1923)

Gabrıel John Doyle

Part 2: Survival Beyond the State

Chapter 3

Entrenchment of the Armenian Genocide: Memorialisation by the Patriarchate of Jerusalem as Diasporic Identity Politics

Arman Khachatryan

Chapter 4

Enduring a Transition: Cretan Jews in Post-Ottoman Hania

Katerına Anagnostakı

Part 3: Resilience Within the Nation-State

Chapter 5

“Let’s Found the Jewish Secondary School This Year”: A Debate on Schooling and Language in Hellenising Salonika (1926-1928)

Defne Özözer

Chapter 6

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Minorities in South Serbia

Klara Volarıc

Chapter 7

Economic Nationalism and Non-Muslims in Early Republican Turkey: The Limitations of Exclusion

Semıh Gökatalay

Epilogue

Language of Politics, Politics of Language

Alexis Wıck