Fotini Tsibiridou Rationalizing Popular Islam among the Slav Speaking Pomaks in Greece: Religious Experiences and Politics of Religion Fotini Tsibiridou - Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki (Greece), ft@uom.gr The study explores the conjunction of popular Islam with the Bektashi Sufi and Sunni traditions. The fieldwork of the Slav speaking Pomaks was conducted in the mountainous area ofRhodopi, in Greek Thrace. The analysis of this case study in the area populated by Slav speaking populations (the Pomaks) helps to understand critically the modalities of each religious tradition as well as their interconnections. As many examples show, the Muslim traditions seem to have different and often contrasting origins: while the Sufis and the popular Islam promote the principle of unity between human beings and nature, the Sunnis construct themselves around a constant and agonizing production of orthopraxy and in open dialogue with power. The dilemma between popular practices and Islamic scholarly tradition is further complicated by the impact of western theology, scientific worldviews, and the Pomaks' status of a linguistic as well as religious minority within Orthodox Greek environment. The transition from popular practices to more rationalized forms of religiosity generates a new field of dynamic confrontations. Keywords: Sunni Islam, Sufi traditions, Bektashi, religiosity, popular Islam, politics of religion, Pomaks, Greek Thrace, Balkans. стр. 74Религиозный опыт и политика в области религии: вводные замечания в сравнительной перспективе ЭТО исследование относится к дисциплине "антропология религии"1, которая в конкретном социально-историческом контексте всегда ориентирована, с одной стороны, на изучение опыта религиозности, а с другой стороны, политики в области религии. В любом случае, как показывает методология антропологического исследования, эти два уровня постоянно переходят один в другой. Антропологическая деко ... Read more