Bosnian Islam: A Paradigm of European Islam

Professor Spahić-Šiljak received a B.A. in Islamic Studies and a law degree from the University of Sarajevo, an M.A. in Human Rights and Democracy from the University of Bologna and the University of Sarajevo, and a Ph.D. in Religion and Politics from the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of the University of Novi Sad, Serbia. She wrote her dissertation on the “impact of the interpretative religious traditions on women's status in public life and politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.” She currently is the project coordinator for research on gender and education for the Transcultural and Psychosocial Foundation (TPO) in Sarajevo and the coordinator of the M.A. Religious Studies program and a lecturer for the Center for Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Studies (CIPS) at the University of Sarajevo. Among others, she has taught courses in Women Studies, Gender and Religion, Human Rights and Religion, Women in Islam, and Feminist Theology. Prof. Spahić-Šiljak’s recent publications include Culture of Religion (Goethe Institute, 2008), ''Women, Gender and Religious Commemorations in Southeastern Europe'' in the Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures (Brill, 2007), and Žene, religija i politika [Women, Religion, and Politics] (IMIC Zajedno, 2007).