What role does religion play in migration processes? What is the reason behind migration of religious minorities? Is religious affiliation a deciding factor in choosing emigration? Some of these questions have been the focus of The Untold Journey of the Nazarene Emigration from Yugoslavia to North America. As the field of migration history is very broad both chronologically and geographically, Aleksandra Djuric Milovanovic focuses on the migration of religious minorities triggered by state repression and the socio-historical context of post-Second World War Yugoslavia. The history and development of the Nazarene communities is analyzed through the lens of religiously motivated persecution and migration from Yugoslavia to North America. The Nazarenes, known as Apostolical Christian Church of Nazarene in North America, represents a fascinating case study which bring new insights into policies towards minority religions during the communist era, migration patterns, and integration mechanisms in the host country. This book is applicable to contemporary forced migration contexts and to the role of religious communities in supporting the integration of refugees and migrants across the world. The reasons for fleeing, migration paths, and routes, life in the refugee camps and settling into the new society are present in the narratives of present-day refugees and migrants fleeing from conflict or religious intolerance across the globe.
Aleksandra Djuric Milovanovic is an anthropologist and senior research associate at the Institute for Balkan Studies, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Belgrade, Serbia).
A very important book. Aleksandra Duric Milovanovic charts the Nazarenes, the most dynamic and ethnically diverse religious movement to emerge in ninteenth century Central Europe and the subsequent emigration of almost enitre community to North America in twentieth century. The Nazarene beliefs exposed them to persecution, but their religion also turned into a 'channel for migration.' Milovanovicdemonstrates formidably the role of religious and communal identity throughout migration process as well as how European religious migrants integrated in the American society and how they changed along the way. --Bojan Aleksov, University College London This book is a welcome and overdue study of a fascinating and unique Neo-Anabaptist community, whose story of nearly two centuries has, until recently, been neglected by the larger scholarly community. Aleksandra Djuric Milovanovic expertly and carefully traces the multiple layers of traumatic experiences that have formed the unique Apostolic/Nazarene Christian identity from their unprecedented emergence as an indigenous inculturation of the Anabaptist faith in a multicultural, Southeastern European context, their violent and oppressive persecution by dominant religious and state authorities for their particular religious convictions and social sensibilities, their migration to North America as strategy of survival, and their resilient persistence as a unique ethno-religious diaspora community. The author's contribution as a Serbian scholar writing in the English language offers a refreshing perspective to the broader history of Trans-Atlantic migration and fills a scholarly gap in American religious history generally and ethno-religious minorities in particular. --Joseph F. Pfeiffer, Fuller Theological Seminary This thoroughly researched book spanning two continents and several generations tells the hitherto forgotten story of Nazarene emigration from Yugoslavia to North America. Not only is it an informative read for everyone--it is highly recommended for all who study the religious history of the Cold War. Current global discussions on religiously motivated migration make this work even more significant and relevant to our times. The eyewitness accounts add a personal touch to the story of a hidden minority and make The Untold Journey of the Nazarene Emigration from Yugoslavia to North America a fascinating read. --Angela Ilic, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen This wonderfully original book offers an ethnographically grounded historical account, through transgenerational and transcontinental research, of a largely overlooked community that straddles the former Yugoslavia and the USA. Aleksandra Djuric Milovanovic brings extraordinary insight to a unique case study that opens up new avenues of enquiry in the field of religion and migration, communist era religious repression in Yugoslavia, as well as filling a significant lacuna in research on multiethnic protestant minorities in the Balkans. --James A. Kapalo, University College Cork
