Amila Buturović
Professor
Office: Vanier College, 222
Phone: 416-736-2100 Ext: 77054
Email: amilab@yorku.ca
Media Requests Welcome
Accepting New Graduate Students
Amila Buturovic's research interests span the intersections of religion and culture, primarily in the context of Islamic societies. Her latest book dealt with the spaces and culture of death in Bosnia and Herzegovina, analyzing the continuity and discontinuity in eschatological sensibilities, epigraphic texts, and commemorative practices in Bosnian cultural history. Currently, she investigates the interconfessional health culture in the Ottoman Balkans in relation to the history of magic, focusing on both written and material culture, from esoteric healing manuals to the occult tradition of amulets, talismans, and herbals.
Amila Buturovic's research interests span the intersections of religion, culture, and identity, primarily in the context of Islamic societies. She is interested in the theories and practices of translation and polyglossia and has written on that subject in relation to Arabo-Islamic Spain and the Ottoman Balkans. Her publications include many articles and essays on these varied subjects. Of books, she authored Stone Speaker: Medieval Tombstones, Landscape, and Bosnian Identity in the Poetry of Mak Dizdar (2002), co-edited, with Irvin C Schick, of Women in the Ottoman Balkans: Gender, Culture and History (2007), published in Turkish as Osmanlı Döneminde Balkan Kadınları; Toplumsal Cinsiyet, Kültür, Tarih
(2008), and edited a special issue of Canadian Literary Journal Descant under the title Bosnia and Herzegovina: Loss and Recovery. Her latest book, Carved in Stone, Etched in Memory: Death, Tombstones and Commemoration in Bosnian Islam (Ashgate, 2015) concerns the spaces and culture of death in Bosnia, specifically the questions of continuity and discontinuity in the eschatological sensibilities, epigraphic texts, and commemorative practices. She has also written several essays and articles on the topic of death in Islamic cultural and intellectual history. Professor Buturovic's current research examines the written and material culture of health, magic, and medical market in Ottoman Bosnia, focusing on the interconfessional transmission of medical knowledge and manuals, amulets and talismanic practices, and herbalism.
Degrees
PhD in Islamic Studies, McGill UniversityMA in Islamic Studies, McGill University
BA, Major in Arabic Language; Minor in English, Sarajevo University
Professional Leadership
Amila Buturovic is a Board member of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian AmericanA cademy of Arts and Sciences (BHAAAS). More info at www.bhaaaas.org
Community Contributions
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/genocide-denial-leave-bosniaks-stuck-in-a-violent-past-1.5851833
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-past-is-present-why-challenging-traditional-narratives-about-history-is-necessary-1.5969819
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/inside-story/2019/3/21/what-legacy-did-karadzic-and-the-war-leave-behind-for-bosnia
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/inside-story/2020/12/14/whats-the-legacy-of-bosnias-peace-deal
Research Interests
Current Research Projects
-
Summary:
"Herbs, Stars and Amulets: Interconfessional Health and Healing in Ottoman Bosnia" investigates the theories and practices of healing in Ottoman Bosnia as they intersect mainstream healthcare practices, religious beliefs, and folk customs. Medical pluralism that we see nowadays existed in premodern times as well, but the hierarchies of authority were allocated in different ways, allowing knowledge to slip through various forms and practices. The study gives this issue a more detailed cultural lens as it examines what kind(s) of medical knowledge circulated in Ottoman Bosnia, and how different medical practitioners benefited from and competed with each other. Deeply steeped in the region's cultural history, this study counteracts the region's current political climate that systematically endangers social intimacy among different ethnoreligious groups through the campaigns of ethnic division and exclusivist discourse.
Kameni govornik: stećci, prostor i identitet u poeziji Maka Dizdara
Carved in Stone, Etched in Memory: Death, Tombstones and Commemoration in Bosnian Islam since c.1500. (Farham: Ashgate Publishing, 2015).
Bosnia and Herzegovina, between Loss and Recovery. Descant: Canadian Literary Issue Guest editor. (Toronto, 2012)
Osmanli Doneminde Balkan Kadinlar. Eds. A. Buturovic & I. Schick. Istanbul: Bilgi University Press, 2009.
Women in the Ottoman Balkans. Eds. Amila Buturovic and I. C. Schick. London: I. B. Tauris, 2007.
Stone Speaker: Medieval Tombstones, Landscape, and Bosnian Identity in the Poetry of Mak Dizdar. New York: Palgrave/St Martin's Press, 2002.
"Mitopoetska kartografija Makovog Kamenog spavača." Mak Dizdar: prvih stotinu godina
'Islam in the Balkans.' Oxford Bibliographies Online. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
'Death in Islam.' Key Themes for the Study of Islam. Ed. J. Elias. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2009.
'Glasovi Predaka Govore.' Makovo Slovo/Slovo o Maku. Sarajevo: Fondacija Mak Dizdar, 2008.
'Islam and Secularism.' The Islamic World (Routledge Worlds). Ed. A. Rippin. New York: Routledge, 2008.
'Love and/or Death: Conflict Resolution in Traditional Bosnian Ballad.' Women in the Ottoman Balkans. Ed. A. Buturovic & I. Schick. London: IB Tauris, 2007.
'European Islam.' The Oxford Handbook of Global Religions. Ed. M. Juergensmeyer. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
'When Secularism Opposes Nationalism: The Case of Yugoslavia.' The Future of Secularism. Ed. T.N. Srinivasan. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2006.
'Christianity and Islam in the Balkans from the Fifteenth to the Twentieth Centuries.' Religious Foundations of Western Civilization. Ed. J. Neusner, A. Avery-Peck, E. Homerin, and B. Chilton. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2006.
'The Balkans.' Encyclopaedia of Mediaeval Islamic Civilization. New York: Routledge, 2005.
'Visions.' Encyclopaedia of the Qurân. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2005.
'Wish and Desire.' Encyclopaedia of the Qurân. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2005.
'Women and Sufism in the Balkans.' Encyclopaedia of Women in Islamic Cultures. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2005.
"Truly This Land is Triumphant and Its Accomplishments Evident: Baybar's Cairo in Ibn Dâniyâl's Shadow Plays."
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2024 | AP/HUMA4814 3.0 | A | The Qur'an and its Interpreters | SEMR |
| Fall 2024 | AP/HUMA3818 3.0 | A | Sacred Space in Islam | SEMR |
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter 2025 | AP/HUMA3803 3.0 | M | Methods in the Study of Religion | SEMR |
| Winter 2025 | AP/HUMA4815 3.0 | M | Studies in Islamic Mysticism | SEMR |
Amila Buturovic's research interests span the intersections of religion and culture, primarily in the context of Islamic societies. Her latest book dealt with the spaces and culture of death in Bosnia and Herzegovina, analyzing the continuity and discontinuity in eschatological sensibilities, epigraphic texts, and commemorative practices in Bosnian cultural history. Currently, she investigates the interconfessional health culture in the Ottoman Balkans in relation to the history of magic, focusing on both written and material culture, from esoteric healing manuals to the occult tradition of amulets, talismans, and herbals.
Amila Buturovic's research interests span the intersections of religion, culture, and identity, primarily in the context of Islamic societies. She is interested in the theories and practices of translation and polyglossia and has written on that subject in relation to Arabo-Islamic Spain and the Ottoman Balkans. Her publications include many articles and essays on these varied subjects. Of books, she authored Stone Speaker: Medieval Tombstones, Landscape, and Bosnian Identity in the Poetry of Mak Dizdar (2002), co-edited, with Irvin C Schick, of Women in the Ottoman Balkans: Gender, Culture and History (2007), published in Turkish as Osmanlı Döneminde Balkan Kadınları; Toplumsal Cinsiyet, Kültür, Tarih
(2008), and edited a special issue of Canadian Literary Journal Descant under the title Bosnia and Herzegovina: Loss and Recovery. Her latest book, Carved in Stone, Etched in Memory: Death, Tombstones and Commemoration in Bosnian Islam (Ashgate, 2015) concerns the spaces and culture of death in Bosnia, specifically the questions of continuity and discontinuity in the eschatological sensibilities, epigraphic texts, and commemorative practices. She has also written several essays and articles on the topic of death in Islamic cultural and intellectual history. Professor Buturovic's current research examines the written and material culture of health, magic, and medical market in Ottoman Bosnia, focusing on the interconfessional transmission of medical knowledge and manuals, amulets and talismanic practices, and herbalism.
Degrees
PhD in Islamic Studies, McGill UniversityMA in Islamic Studies, McGill University
BA, Major in Arabic Language; Minor in English, Sarajevo University
Professional Leadership
Amila Buturovic is a Board member of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian AmericanA cademy of Arts and Sciences (BHAAAS). More info at www.bhaaaas.org
Community Contributions
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/genocide-denial-leave-bosniaks-stuck-in-a-violent-past-1.5851833
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-past-is-present-why-challenging-traditional-narratives-about-history-is-necessary-1.5969819
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/inside-story/2019/3/21/what-legacy-did-karadzic-and-the-war-leave-behind-for-bosnia
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/inside-story/2020/12/14/whats-the-legacy-of-bosnias-peace-deal
Research Interests
Current Research Projects
-
Summary:
"Herbs, Stars and Amulets: Interconfessional Health and Healing in Ottoman Bosnia" investigates the theories and practices of healing in Ottoman Bosnia as they intersect mainstream healthcare practices, religious beliefs, and folk customs. Medical pluralism that we see nowadays existed in premodern times as well, but the hierarchies of authority were allocated in different ways, allowing knowledge to slip through various forms and practices. The study gives this issue a more detailed cultural lens as it examines what kind(s) of medical knowledge circulated in Ottoman Bosnia, and how different medical practitioners benefited from and competed with each other. Deeply steeped in the region's cultural history, this study counteracts the region's current political climate that systematically endangers social intimacy among different ethnoreligious groups through the campaigns of ethnic division and exclusivist discourse.
Project Type: FundedAll Publications
"Mitopoetska kartografija Makovog Kamenog spavača." Mak Dizdar: prvih stotinu godina
'Islam in the Balkans.' Oxford Bibliographies Online. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
'Death in Islam.' Key Themes for the Study of Islam. Ed. J. Elias. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2009.
'Glasovi Predaka Govore.' Makovo Slovo/Slovo o Maku. Sarajevo: Fondacija Mak Dizdar, 2008.
'Islam and Secularism.' The Islamic World (Routledge Worlds). Ed. A. Rippin. New York: Routledge, 2008.
'Love and/or Death: Conflict Resolution in Traditional Bosnian Ballad.' Women in the Ottoman Balkans. Ed. A. Buturovic & I. Schick. London: IB Tauris, 2007.
'European Islam.' The Oxford Handbook of Global Religions. Ed. M. Juergensmeyer. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
'When Secularism Opposes Nationalism: The Case of Yugoslavia.' The Future of Secularism. Ed. T.N. Srinivasan. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2006.
'Christianity and Islam in the Balkans from the Fifteenth to the Twentieth Centuries.' Religious Foundations of Western Civilization. Ed. J. Neusner, A. Avery-Peck, E. Homerin, and B. Chilton. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2006.
'The Balkans.' Encyclopaedia of Mediaeval Islamic Civilization. New York: Routledge, 2005.
'Visions.' Encyclopaedia of the Qurân. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2005.
'Wish and Desire.' Encyclopaedia of the Qurân. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2005.
'Women and Sufism in the Balkans.' Encyclopaedia of Women in Islamic Cultures. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2005.
"Truly This Land is Triumphant and Its Accomplishments Evident: Baybar's Cairo in Ibn Dâniyâl's Shadow Plays."
Kameni govornik: stećci, prostor i identitet u poeziji Maka Dizdara
Carved in Stone, Etched in Memory: Death, Tombstones and Commemoration in Bosnian Islam since c.1500. (Farham: Ashgate Publishing, 2015).
Bosnia and Herzegovina, between Loss and Recovery. Descant: Canadian Literary Issue Guest editor. (Toronto, 2012)
Osmanli Doneminde Balkan Kadinlar. Eds. A. Buturovic & I. Schick. Istanbul: Bilgi University Press, 2009.
Women in the Ottoman Balkans. Eds. Amila Buturovic and I. C. Schick. London: I. B. Tauris, 2007.
Stone Speaker: Medieval Tombstones, Landscape, and Bosnian Identity in the Poetry of Mak Dizdar. New York: Palgrave/St Martin's Press, 2002.
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2024 | AP/HUMA4814 3.0 | A | The Qur'an and its Interpreters | SEMR |
| Fall 2024 | AP/HUMA3818 3.0 | A | Sacred Space in Islam | SEMR |
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter 2025 | AP/HUMA3803 3.0 | M | Methods in the Study of Religion | SEMR |
| Winter 2025 | AP/HUMA4815 3.0 | M | Studies in Islamic Mysticism | SEMR |
