BULGARIAN-SPEAKING MUSLIMS - Lalev

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
When I started the Heritage Studies PhD program at Arkansas State University, my biggest
dilemma was the choice of a dissertation topic. As the heritage studies field was new to me, it was not
an easy undertaking to select a topic with which I would stick. Thus tormented by a dissertation
predicament, I flew to Atlanta to meet with my former professor Dr. Abdullahi Ahmed An’Naim of the
Emory Law School (he taught a class on Islam at the Central European University which I took).
Professor An’Naim could not solve the dilemma for me, but he gave me the best piece of advice:
“Whatever you do, choose something you feel passionate about.” I only fathomed the wisdom of his
words two years into my research when I had grown frustrated with the whole dissertation writing
business. Indeed, were it not for my passion to drive me further and deeper into my topic, I may have
abandoned the whole idea of pursuing a PhD degree.
I owe a debt of gratitude to my dissertation advisor, Dr. Brady Banta, who painstakingly
scrutinized every paragraph I constructed, thus, pushing me to reflect on every sentence I wrote or I
will ever write. As trying as it often was, this experience helped to boost my writing confidence
tremendously. More importantly, Dr. Banta motivated me to stay true to myself throughout the
process of conducting fieldwork, formulating ideas, and writing chapters.
Many thanks to Dr. Erik Gilbert and Dr. Gregory Hansen, the two members of my dissertation
committee, the former for introducing me to the concept of nationalism and its incredible influence
on issues of heritage, and the latter for initiating me into the methodology of ethnographic research.
I am deeply grateful to Dr. Clyde Milner II, Dr. Carol O’Connor, Dr. Deborah Chappel Traylor,
Dr. Pamela Hronek, and Dr. Gina Hogue for boosting my confidence when I most needed it.
I owe eternal gratitude to Ivan Terziev, Ramadan Runtov, Ismail Byalkov, Fikrie Topova, the
Cesur family of Istanbul, the Raim family of Istanbul, Melike Belinska, Mehmed Buykli, Mehmed
Dorsunski, and many others for making it possible for me to collect information and build my
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