Activities

EDUCATION OF MOSLEM-MINORITY CHILDREN IN THE BALKANS. OVERCOMING THE CULTURAL GAP
Final Activities Report
Due to important new circumstances and to consultations with my mentors, concerning the effectiveness of the Project’s activities, I introduced several changes in my Project, which do not affect its scope and its objectives:
? My work with the matter of this study convinced me that “Moslem-minority children” fits better the research design, than “Islamic-minority children”.
? the study visit to Macedonia, which was planned for the first half of 2001 had to be postponed and took place in February 2002.. In the conditions of the conflict in Macedonia in 2001 it seemed not reasonable to make inquiries there about the education of Moslem-minority children at that time.
? Unexpectedly I had problems also with the organization of my study visit to Greece. It seems that there are some concerns there at the moment about the Turkish and Pomak minorities in Northern Greece, and my attempts to get assistance from my colleagues from the Democritus University were not successful. I had to give up this element of my Project.
? After consultations with my mentor, Assoc. Prof. M. Grekova on the preparation of the typological sample of the sociological survey, we came to the conclusion that it would be better if the survey, which was planned for the towns of Shumen, Plovdiv, Kurdzhali and Smoljan, be carried out in a more focused way, i.e. only at two places, Shumen and Sliven, but including two phases: first interviews with teachers, and after that – the survey proper with the students. The interviews were to be used in the preparation of the questionnaire. Besides, we came to the idea that it would be more appropriate if the interviews and the survey are carried out for a shorter time, but by two persons. So, instead of 4 preparatory visits of 3 days each, and 5 survey visits of 5 days each (altogether 32 man/days), as planned, we had 2 interview visits of 2 persons for 3 days and 2 survey visits of 2 persons for 3 days (altogether 24 man/days), which was, in the last account, cheaper.
? The postponing of the visits to Greece and Macedonia, and the more intensive realization of the survey made it possible to finish the technical processing of the data from the survey earlier than planned, i.e. not in July, but in June.
With all these changes, the Project activities look as follows:
1. Participation in the eighth IPF Seminar, Budapest - February 2001
2. Consultations with mentor Assoc. Prof. Dr M. Grekova – March 2001
3. Preparation of the theoretical model of the sociological survey – March 2001
4. Preparation of the typological sample of the survey – March 2001
5. Preparation of the interview model – April 2001
6. Conducting the interviews with 14 teachers in Sliven and Shumen – April 2001
7. Preparation of the questionnaire – May 2001
8. Conducting the survey at 6 schools – 2 in Sliven, 1 in Novachevo, 2 in Shumen and 1 in Malomir – May 2001
9. Participation in the ninth IPF Seminar, Budapest – June 2001
10. Technical processing of the data from the survey - June 2001
11. Primary analysis of the data from the survey - June 2001
12. Preparation of the Interim Report – September 2001
13. Participation in the tenth IPF Seminar, Budapest – October 2001
14. Work on the final analysis of the data from the survey, taking into account the mentors’ critique of the interim report. Elaboration of the Research Paper and the Policy Paper. – November/December 2001
15. Preparation of an extra issue of the Journal “Strategies of Educational and scientific Policy” (published by the Ministry of Education and Science), dedicated entirely on the Educational policy concerning cuiltural difference. As a member of the Editorial Board of the journal I was assigned the task to act as a guest editor of this issue, for which I will write the editorial and an article (“Configurations of Cultural Difference at Bulgarian Schools”), representing my survey within this Project. I managed to attract the leading specialist in minority (intercultural) education in the country and my ambition is to give this uissue, which will appear in June 2002, a paradigmatic meaning, concerning educational policy in Bulgaria. – January 2002
16. Preparation of an article – “Culture-specific Methods of Intercultural education for Bulgarian schools” – for the international Journal “Intercultural Education”. The article is being considered for publication. – January 2002
17. Study visit to Skopje: - February 2002:
? meetings with Prof. D. Mirchev and Prof. A. Petkovska, sociologists from Skopje University, who do empirical research on interethnic relations in Macedonia. Discussion on the demographic and political aspects of the Macedonian majority – Albanian minority relations.
? meeting with Prof. Zoran Velkovski, Head of the Pedagogical Department of Skopje University. Discussion of the issues of minority education in Macedonia.
? Meeting with Mr Rizvan Sulejmani, Member of the Macedonian Parliament from the Party of Democratic Prosperity (one of the two major political parties o fthe Albanian minority in Macedonia). Discussion on the Albanian minority claims for recognition of their cultural identity and on minority education issues, including comments on the causal connection between failures in the education of the Albanian minority children and the motivation to participate in armed action to change the status of the Albanians in Macedonia.
? Meeting with Mr Dragan Antonov, Deputy Director of the Macedonian Information Center. Discussion on the prospects of the development of the ethnic majority – minority relations in Macedonia.
About my conclusions from the study visit – see Research Paper
17. Preparation of the Final Report. – February 2002
Relevant activities, not part of the Project:
On behalf of Sofia University I organized the seminar “Balkan cultural identities and civil society”, 22.04 - 24.04.2001, Sofia. Scholars from Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Yugoslavia and the USA took part. It was decided that the work on this theme continues in the form of research by national teams from all the Balkan countries, involved (participation of scholars from Turkey and Albania is to be arranged). A comparative sociological survey on the value systems in the Balkan countries is to be prepared and, if financial support is found, carried out in 2002.
On 05.05.– 06.05.2001 I took part in the Conference “Human Rights And The Dialogue Of Civilizations” in Teheran. It was organized under the aegis of the President Khatami and was associated with his initiative that the UN declares 2001 as the Year of the Dialogue of Civilizations. The conference was organized by the Mufid University in Qom, the ideological “stronghold” of the Moslem revolution in Iran. Invited from abroad were, altogether, about 20 scholars from the USA, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Russia, Bulgaria, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Nigeria. See IRAN REPORT (different from IRAN PAPER)
I presented a paper, titled “Human Rights and Cultural Identity. The Role of the Public Sphere”. It will appear in the proceedings of the Conference, which are prepared for publication at Mufid University. The paper’s full text is available as an appendix to this report. IRAN PAPER
I prepared a paper, titled “Bulgarian Intellectuals and Communist Nationalism, 1984-1989” for the Conference “The Intellectual Legacy of Authoritarian Regimes. Near Eastern, Central- and Eastern European Perspectives” to be held in Istanbul from 21.03. to 24.03.2002. The papers of the Conference will be published.

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