Ottoman History and the Islamic-Ottoman Cultural Legacy in Bosnia in the First Edition of the Encyclopaedia of Yugoslavia (1950–1971)

The article analyses how the first edition of the Encyclopedia of Yugoslavia (1955–1971) treated the Ottoman history and Islamo-Ottoman cultural legacy. The article is based on encyclopedic articles, documents related to the editing and writing of the encyclopedia and marginalia written by the editor-in-chief of the project. The first edition of the EJ was affected – albeit inconsistently – by the officially sanctioned anti-Ottoman discourse that presented this era as the time of oppression and backwardness. The Ottoman history in Bosnia was seen as an important topic and it was given a large space. In contrast to the articles on ideologically important topics, a large portion of articles on Ottoman history was written in a neutral manner. The Islamo-Ottoman contributions to Bosnian cultural legacy were marginalized as part of the deliberate editorial policy. This policy changed only in the last, 8th, volume reflecting political changes in the country.