Author: polbalkanology

The Polish Commission of Balkan Culture and History informs colleagues that fourth volume of the series Colloquia Balkanica “The Image of Russia in the Balkans” (edited by Jolanta Sujecka and Krzysztof Usakiewicz) has been published in Warsaw by Wydawnictwo DiG.

ISBN 978–83–7181–972–8 (DiG)
ISBN 979–10–95627–15–9 (La Rama)
EAN: 9788371819728

Table of Contents

From the Introduction:
“In some aspects, The Image of Russia in the Balkans continues the first book in the series, The Semantics of Russia in the Balkans, though the present volume definitely contains more extensive material and covers more issues. The image of Russia presented in the papers making up the volume, though multi-themed, seems to split into two main types depending on ethnogenesis and language on the one hand and religion on the other. One might think that there is a Slavic image of Russia, which involves the Slavic cultures of the Balkans, and an Orthodox image, which is Greek and to some degree Albanian and Romanian. This would be the result of the dual discourse developed by Russia with regard to the Balkans that Pedro Bádenas de la Peña writes about.
Meanwhile, Balkan images of Russia create more of a multi-layered structure subordinated to Balkan cultural perception while also conducting a dialogue with Russia and its legacy. Developing from the Byzantine tradition, the Balkans and Russia essentially form a space of mutual ties that goes far beyond the cliché of liberator and liberated.
Opening up to influences coming from South-Eastern Europe in times when the Ottoman threat was increasing, Russia in a way repaid its “debt” incurred in the early 18th century by sending teachers and books to the Habsburg town of Karlowitz (Sremski Karlovci, Karlovatz). (…)
Thus everything came full circle: having taken in refugees from South-Eastern Europe, Russia (…) returned to Turkish Europe, to the Balkans, as a player but also an ideologue, wanting to liberate but also to decide. The only thing is, contrary to the European powers, Russia was a part of that world, which is why its role in the Balkans was different, and this is what the present volume sets out to show.”

 

 

2nd Warsaw AIESEE International Workshop

“The Balkan Jews & the Minority Issue in South-Eastern Europe”

Organized by the Polish Commission of Balkan Culture and History
Faculty of “Artes Liberales” University of Warsaw

Warsaw 7th – 9th November 2016

Call for Papers

The Polish Commission of Balkan Culture and History as a full member of Association Internationale d’Etudes du Sud-Est Européen (AIESEE) has existed since the 10th Congress of AIESEE in Paris held in 2009. In 2011, the Commission organized the first AIESEE Conference “The Image of Russia in the Balkans”.

The second AIESEE Warsaw Conference designed as an educational workshop is dedicated to the topic of Balkan Jews. The minority issue should not only be considered as a significant context for the main topic but also as an exemplification of Balkan specific and unique character which is a result of linguistic and cultural convergence.

In the Balkans a multilevel network of mutual cultural relations has been created including language, tradition, religion, literature as well as identity. It seems that in the region which has functioned as a multiethnic and multireligious whole for the centuries, a specific model of multiethnic relations appeared, based on balancing between preserving own ethnic distinctness and integrating with the dominant culture.

The aim of this workshop is to discuss the character of relations in the Balkans and to understand tolerance in mutual interethnic relations. During the discussion we would like to focus on the following topics:

• Jews’ status in the Ottoman Empire and interethnic relations in the Balkans
• Sephardic culture and its intercultural relations in the Balkans: literature, language, religion
• Legacy of multiethnic empire and the minority issue in the Balkan countries as a context for Shoah
• Jews’ identity in the Balkans after Shoah, Yugoslav context
• Jewish minorities in the contemporary Balkan countries (EU policy toward minorities and current authorities’ attitude toward Jewish communities contexts)

Sessions will take place in the morning and afternoon of 7th, 8th and 9th November 2016 at the Faculty “Artes Liberales” of the University of Warsaw. The guest speakers on this occasion will be:

Dragi Gjorgiev (Institute of National History Republic of Macedonia)
Agnieszka August-Zarębska (Faculty of Philology, Institute of Romance Studies, the University of Wrocław)
Nadege Ragaru (Sciences PO CERI – France)
Konstanty Gebert (Gazeta Wyborcza)

The working language of the Workshop is English. For each academic paper on the aforementioned topics that is accepted will be allocated a slot of a maximum 20 minutes.

We kindly ask each Committee member of AIESEE to recommend specialists for this conference. All proposals should be sent to the General Secretariat of AIESEE: office@aiesee.org and to the Secretary of the Polish Commission of Balkan Culture and History, Mrs. Marzena Maciulewicz: ma.maciulewicz@gmail.com.

We kindly ask all interested applicants to submit abstract (approximately 1000 words) as well as personal and represented institution data.

Deadline for sending topics: 15th February 2016

Deadline for submitting abstracts: 31st March 2016

Announcement for successful paper: 9th May 2016

Accommodation, travel and food expenses are expected to be covered by the participant or its affiliated institution.

We plan to publish materials in the book series “Colloquia Balkanica”.

Looking forward to receiving your recommendations, we send you the warmest regards.

Welcome to Polish Balkanology, a website of the The Polish Commission of Balkan Culture and History. We will build our web presence in the following months and update all information regarding the Polish Commission and its activities.

The website of Polish Balkanology is hosted by Wydział Artes Liberales, University of Warsaw.