Muslim, educated and well-dressed: Gajret’s self-civilizing mission in interwar Yugoslavia

Abstract

This article addresses the activities of Gajret, the most important Muslim cultural association in the Yugoslav space of the first half of the twentieth century. Established in 1903 in Sarajevo, the association managed in its four decades of existence to involve thousands of activists of both sexes in its activities, and to organize a network of local branches reaching even beyond the borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Initially established to provide scholarships for Muslim male pupils, the association gradually diversified its activities, published journals and books, provided literacy and handiwork courses, established student dorms and workshops, and much more. The text will focus on two aspects of the association’s life: firstly, its relationship with the state authorities, and how this relationship shifted over time, from cooperation, to opposition, to co-optation. Secondly, the article will focus on the association’s gender agenda, discourses and practices, with a special focus on Muslim women. At the intersection between these two research questions, the thesis of this article posits that Gajret’s self-civilizing project aimed to foster new generations of modern, nationally aware Muslim men and women capable of playing an active role in the emerging Yugoslav middle class.