Contribution short abstract:

Dominant groups in Bulgaria monopolize memoryscapes, marginalizing Turkish-Muslim minorities. Museumification of mosques limits minority visibility, turning religious spaces into state-controlled sites. This study explores minority strategies to counter dominant narratives and assert cultural memory

Contribution long abstract:

Dominant groups often monopolize the construction of memoryscapes, shaping collective memory to align with their ideologies. However, minority groups challenge these narratives through alternative strategies. In Bulgaria, the Turkish-Muslim minority faces significant barriers to establishing their memoryscapes due to limited political power. Efforts to assert visibility often provoke backlash from central authorities. Museums, historically tools of nation-building, continue to reinforce dominant ideologies and legitimize oppressive policies. In Bulgaria, regional museums in Kardzhali, Razgrad, and Smolyan serve as remnants of state-socialist policies that marginalized minorities. Recently, the Bulgarian state has intensified efforts to museumify Muslim religious spaces, converting mosques in Stara Zagora, Karlovo, and Kyustendil into museums. These policies aim not at preservation but at restricting these spaces' use as places of worship, limiting the spatial and cultural visibility of Turkish-Muslim communities. Drawing on eighteen months of fieldwork conducted between 2009 and 2023, this study examines how these museumification policies are used to control minority narratives and restrict their representation in the public sphere. It also explores the agency and strategies of Turkish-Muslim minorities to counter these hegemonic practices at regional, national, and transnational levels. The research highlights the politics of visibility and memory in contemporary Bulgaria, where dominant and minority groups contest cultural spaces and narratives.