Debating Balkan commonalities: Is there a common Balkan culture?
Analysing the contributions of Jovan Cvijić, Traian Stoianovich, Paschalis Kitromilides and a range of Balkanologists, the author attempts to summarise the debate on Balkan commonalities and answer if the debate was able to identify shared features that could be seen as a common Balkan cult...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Institute for Balkan Studies SASA
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Balcanica |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0350-7653/2024/0350-76532455161M.pdf |
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| Summary: | Analysing the contributions of Jovan Cvijić, Traian Stoianovich, Paschalis
Kitromilides and a range of Balkanologists, the author attempts to summarise
the debate on Balkan commonalities and answer if the debate was able to
identify shared features that could be seen as a common Balkan culture. The
author first deals with the emergence of Balkan studies, which he connects
with the spirit of regional cooperation that appeared in the Balkans after
1928. The first efforts to answer the question of Balkan commonalities were
made in the seminal work of this discipline on the Balkan Peninsula (1918).
In this book, Jovan Cvijić provided evidence for a divided rather than a
unified region. The efforts of Traian Stoianovich to define a “Balkan
civilization” remained in the borderland between global history and
Balkanology. Paschalis Kitromilides provided the most convincing arguments
for a Balkan mentality but did not go beyond the early modern period and
Balkan Orthodox Christians. In the paper the evolution of the term Balkanism
has been analysed to retrace the change of focus in Balkan studies, which
lost some its original drive from the 1930s for finding commonalities,
instead growing more focused on political and cultural contexts. In the
conclusion the importance of the whole debate on Balkan commonalities has
been highlighted. Although strong evidence of Balkan commonalities was found
only in linguistics, this discussion proved significant for Balkan studies
and brought about important results for the discipline. |
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| ISSN: | 0350-7653 2406-0801 |