Conclusion

Abstract

The conclusion draws on the analysis in previous chapters, mainly Chapters 3 and 4, to address some theoretical questions about religious conversions and nation-building in Modern Greece. It argues that in Modern Greece of the nineteenth century religious conversions, including Muslim conversions, to Christian Orthodoxy were often a ticket to Greek national identity. By converting to Orthodox Christianity the converts often aspired to become Hellenes (i.e., Greek nationals). In so doing, Greece and the age of nationalism that Greece introduced in the Balkans set a pattern for religious conversions, including Muslim conversions to Christianity, in the region: Muslim converts often aspired to become nationals of the post-Ottoman country in which they lived. The conclusion also argues that Muslim conversion to Christian Orthodoxy was often facilitated by the weakness or lack of Ottoman institutions and the political, economic and social fluidity or havoc of the nineteenth century. It also discusses the reliability or lack thereof of Greek official documents concerning the conditions under which these conversions took place. What do these documents suppress, and what can be read between their lines, especially concerning neophyte child and adult slavery, molestation, sexual slavery, and concubinage?