Fall 24: Politics and Narratives at European Borderlands: Rethinking Balkans for Ukraine
Zoom link https://ceu-edu.zoom.us/j/92952722705?
pwd=clU5NWVjM2VGMUlXTVorb1h6RGs5QT09
Southeastern peninsula of the European continent, more recognizable under its loaded term the
Balkans, is a region of stunning ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity, where some of the
biggest empires and political blocks bordered each other, like the Western and Eastern Roman
Empire, or Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire, resulting in the centuries-long
encounter between Christian (Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant), Jewish, and Islamic tradition;
similarly, in more recent history, the Eastern and Western Block during the Cold War Era. The
situation gets more complex after the wartime violence in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s,
ethnic engineering, post-Cold War global re-composition, and global migration movements. The
borderlands of the Balkans thus seem to be an ideal research area for a critical re-examination of
intragroup and intergroup communication, as well as transnational and translocal relations. The
course tracks current cultural, political and social tendencies, with special focus on
multidimensional relations between borders and narratives. The bordering processes in the
Balkans have relevance far beyond this region and provide valuable lessons about politics of
identity, ethnic conflict as well as postwar reconstruction, contemporary political history and
international relations.
Teaching team: Marija Mandić and Olesija Marković (organizers), Aleksandar Pavlović
(coordinator), Jelena Jovanović, Ivan Nikolovski, Ivana Mihaela Žimbrek, Maksym Snihyr,
Damir Zejnulahović, Mirko Savkovic (mentors)
Format
The course would combine theoretical approaches with practical insights, resting on lectures,
disucssions, workshops, individual assignments and mentoring of students of social sciences and
humanities from Ukraine and the region of Southeastern Europe, in complementarity with their
original studies. The course consists of 12 lectures and mentoring sessions.
Requirements
• Attendance and informed participation in class discussions
• One-page insight
Recommended readings:
Mark Mazower (2000) Introduction. The Balkans. A Short History (pp. 180‒220). New York: Modern
Library.
https://revistes.uab.cat/periferia/article/view/v6-n1-jezernik/170-pdf-es OR
Maria Todorova (1994) The Balkans: From Discovery to Invention. Slavic Review, 53 (2): 453–482.
Diana Mishkova (2018) The emergence of the Balkans as a cultural-historical space. Beyond Balkanism.
The Scholarly Politics of Region Making (pp. 41–69). Routledge.
Module 1: Balkans as (post)Imperial borderland
1. Balkans as European borderland: beyond Balkansim and coloniality, 27.09.24.
Marija Mandić (Institute for Philosophy and Socila Theory University Belgrade)
Aleksandar Pavlović (Institute for Philosophy and Socila Theory University Belgrade)
Moderator: Olesia Marković
A decolonial perspective requires a broader canon of thought that would require taking seriously
the epistemic insights of critical thinkers from the periphery and semi-periphery. How can a
“critical border thinking” and a “local turn” that envisage a “transmodern world” moves us
beyond Balkanistic discourses? Are we Southeast Europe, the Balkans or just the Western
Balkans? Todorova argued that the stereotypical Western gaze towards the Balkans is different
from Orientalism in so far as in-betweenness of the Balkans and its transitionary character is
constructed not as other but as incomplete self. Todorova argues that in opposition to the Orient,
the Balkans did not have a real colonial experience. In that, the Balkans also differ from Africa or
Latin America. However, colonialism and post-colonialism are historical phenomena, while
global coloniality refers to the modern global power and knowledge matrix that we are currently
living in. How coloniality applies to the Balkans?
Recommended readings:
Maria Todorova (1997) “Balkans” as Self-designation. Imagining the Balkans. Oxford University
Press, pp. 38–61.
Božidar Jezernik (2007) Europe and its Other (i.e. The Balkans). Perifèria, 6, June 2007
https://revistes.uab.cat/periferia/article/view/v6-n1-jezernik/170-pdf-es
2. How Bosnia and Herzegovina was bordered: from the Ottoman times to present, 4.10.24.
Edin Hajdarpašić (Loyola University Chicago)
Discussant: Emili Greble (Vanderbilt College of Arts and Science)
Moderator: Marija Mandić
Formative contestations over Bosnia and the surrounding region began when the assassination
that triggered World War I, emerging with the rise of new nineteenth-century forces—Serbian
and Croatian nationalisms, and Ottoman, Habsburg, Muslim, and Yugoslav political movements
—that claimed this province as their own. Whose Bosnia? reveals the political pressures and
moral arguments that made Bosnia a prime target of escalating nationalist and bordering activity.
3. Romania’s Cold War and their Legacies for Dealing with the Past, 11.10.24.
Politics of Memory and History Review in Post-Communist Albania
Bogdan Cristian Iacob (Institute for for Habsburg and Balkan Studies of the Austrian Academy of
Sciences)
Enriketa Papa-Pandelejmoni (University Tirana)
Moderator: Aleksandar Pavlović
Since the mid-1960s, the communist regime in Bucharest has typically been characterized a
‘maverick’ of the global order established during the Cold War: autonomous from, sometimes
critical of the Soviet Union, while close to newly decolonized countries and even the West. Yet,
the implications of this internationally in-between position upon the process of dealing with the
past have hardly been discussed, neither by Romanian scholars nor in the public sphere. The
outcome of such situation was the fundamental ambiguity of representations about state
socialism, each invoking different histories with little or no dialogue and overlap amongst each
other. These parallel mnemonic discourses and communities reflect a yet-to-be understood past,
resiliently lingering within the interstices of contemporary identity narratives.
It seems that although many years have passed since Communism fall in Albania (1991), and
many scholars have documented numerous communist atrocities, the communist period remains a
very sensitive period of the public discourse in the country and not only. Taking into the
consideration the high sensitivity of the topic, I will try to give some important insights of
memory politics and history review process in Albania from the perspective of history and
Transitional Justice. The main path of this lecture will touch upon some concepts such as history
of Communism, decommunization, lustration, reconciliation, justice for the victims, as well the
debates on remembering the abusive past.
Recommended readings:
Ovidiu Ţichindeleanu (2017) Socialist Romania and Postsocialist Transition on the Path of Non-
Aligned Development. Institutul prezentului,
https://institutulprezentului.ro/en/2017/11/15/socialist-romania-and-postsocialist-transition-on-
the-path-of-non-aligned-development/
Bogdan C. Iacob (2020) Liberal Anti-Communism and Historical Commissions in Romania and
Moldova. Revue d'études comparatives Est-Ouest, 2‒3: 89‒120.
https://shs.cairn.info/revue-d-etudes-comparatives-est-ouest-2020-2-page-89?lang=fr
Robert Austin (2009) Albania. In Lavinia Stan (Ed.), Transitional Justice in Eastern Europe and
the Former Soviet Union Reckoning with the communist past (pp. 176‒199). Routledge.
Ilir Kalemaj (2021) Transitional justice and democratic consolidation in post-communist Eastern
Europe: Romania and Albania. Transitional Justice In Albania. A Compilation Of Papers By
Young Albanian Researches (pp. 54–74), https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/e/4/445090.pdf
Module 2: Revisting borders in culture, society and politics
4. Common language, different names: Language situation in post Yugoslav lands,
18.10.24.
The pluricentricity of the Albanian language: Current issues and perspectives
Marija Mandić (Institute for Philosophy and Socila Theory University Belgrade)
Armela Panajoti (University of Vlora(University of Vlora “Ismail Qemali”)
Moderator: Olesia Marković
This lecture is devoted to the questions concerning linguistic nationalism, linguistic borders, and
disintegration of the Serbo-Croatian language into national standard languages (Bosnian,
Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian). The main questions raised are the following: 1) What are
the borders of a language? 2) What is the underlying language ideology behind the disintegration
of Serbo-Croatian?
The lecture presents an overview of Albanian as a pluricentric language, focusing on various
sociolinguistic and cultural perspectives and implications within the larger twenty-first century
social context. Following a brief summary of Albanian’s history, development, and influence
from other languages, the lecture tackles current issues and debates centering mainly on efforts to
establish a unified Albanian standard to promote mutual understanding and unity as well as to
provide education in the Albanian language across Albanian-speaking territories and diaspora.
Overall, the lecture emphasizes the importance of Albanian pluricentricity for informing language
policy planning and decisions that balance unity and diversity.
Recommended readings:
Ranko Bugarski (2004) Overview of the Linguistic Aspects of the Disintegration of Former
Yugoslavia. In Ranko Bugarski, Cellia Hawkesworth (Eds.) Language in the Former Yugoslav
Lands (pp. 3–11). Bloomington: Slavica Publishers.
Robert Greenberg (2004) The Serbo-Croatian successor languages: Shared obstacles and
divergent solutions. Language and Identity in the Balkans. Serbo-Croatian and its
Disintegration (pp. 159–163). Oxford University Press.
Edlira Mantho (2009) The Present Day Situation On Standard Albanian and the Theory of
Argumentation about it. Investigationes Linguisticae, 8: 72–79.
Bardh Rugova (2015) The Status of Albanian in Relation to the Other Balkan Languages. Slavia
Meridionalis 15: 139‒148.
5. Gender and oovercoming borders, 25.10.24.
Zlatiborka Popov-Momčinović (University of Eastern Sarajevo)
Moderator: Marija Mandić
6. Shifting Borders: The Balkans as a Gateway to Understanding Islam in Europe, 1.11.24.
Ivan Ejub Kostić (Institute for Philosophy and Socila Theory University Belgrade)
Moderator: Aleksandar Pavlović
The lecture explores the Balkans as a pivotal region for understanding the shifting borders of
Islam in Europe. It examines Muslims' historical and contemporary presence in the Balkans,
focusing on how the region's unique geopolitical and cultural context influences broader
European discourses on Islam. Furthermore, the lecture will highlight how the Balkans serve as a
gateway to understanding the complexities of Muslim integration, identity, and border-making in
Europe by addressing identity and political boundaries. The lecture will give special attention to
the intersection of local and transnational dynamics that shape these discussions.
Recommended readings:
Zora Hesová (2021) Towards Secularity: Autonomy and Modernization of Bosnian Islamic
Institutions under Austro-Hungarian Administration. In František Šístek (Ed.), Imagining
Bosnian Muslims in Central Europe (pp. 104–121).
Berghahn Books.
Karčić, Fikret (1999) The Bosniaks and Challenges of Modernity. Sarajevo: El Kalem, pp. 109‒
155.
Piro Rexhepi (2016) From Orientalism to Homonationalism: Queer Politics, Islamophobia and
Europeanization in Kosovo. Southeastern Europe, 40 (1): 32–53.
7. When Walls Speak - Introduction to Graffiti Studies, 8.11.24.
Mitja Velikonja (University Ljubljana)
Moderator: Olesia Marković
Until recently, graffiti and street art were not considered a serious and legitimate academic topic
although they are one of the oldest means of human creativity. As specific illegal visual
expressions conveying a message in connection with the public space in which they are created, I
consider them as “images of dissent” with aesthetic conventions and political situation in a
certain society. They poeticize and at the same time politicize urban surfaces in fresh, radical and
often controversial ways. Lecture When Walls Speak is based on my book on political graffiti,
first published in 2020 and so far translated into six languages, and reflects my ongoing research
and fieldwork I conducted in different parts of the world in more than twenty-five years. A
special attention will be given to war in Ukraine-related political graffiti I took photo of in
different parts of the world (the Balkans, USA, Estonia, Georgia, Italy, Hungary and mostly in
Ukraine itself) and to conflict graffiti in the Balkans.
Recommended readings:
Mitja Velikonja. (2017) Yugoslavia After Yugoslavia: Graffti About Yugoslavia in the Post-
Yugoslav Urban Landscape. In Dijana Jelača, Masa Kolanović, Danijela Lugarić (Eds.), The
Cultural Life of Capitalism in Yugoslavia: (Post)Socialism and Its Other (pp. 323-343). Palgrave
Macmillan.
Mitja Velikonja (2020) Post-Socialist Political Graffiti in the Balkans and Central Europe.
Routledge. (Translated in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian and Ukrainian)
John Lennon (2022) Conflict Graffiti. From Revolution to Gentrification. The University of
Chicago Press.
Module 3: (De)bordering today and tomorrow
8. Ontological security and borders, 15.11.24.
Filip Ejdus (Faculty of Political Sciences University Belgrade),
Moderator: Aleksandar Pavlović
9. Ethnic othering, (de)bordering, fluidity and hybridity, 22.11.24.
Goran Janev (Sts Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje)
Christian Voss (Humboldt University in Berlin)
Moderator: Marija Mandić
10. Peace on the Borders, 29.11.24.
Nemanja Džuverović (Faculty of Political Sciences University Belgrade)
Moderator: Aleksandar Pavlović
The lecture explores the use of different forms of borders to prevent violence in conflict-affected
societies. By drawing from examples across Europe and worldwide, the lecture aims to explain
the various ways in which borders can be seen as a tool for peacebuilding. It also delves into the
social dynamics around borders by using the concept of everyday peace.
Recommended readings:
Alon Gelbman (2008) Border Tourism in Israel: Conflict, Peace, Fear and Hope, Tourism
Geographies. An International Journal of Tourism Space, Place and Environment, 10 (2): 193‒
213
Harel Shapira (2013) The Border: Infrastructure of the Global. Public Culture, 25 (2 70): 249–
260.
11. Borders, Wars and the State Formation, 6.12.24
Siniša Malešević (University College Dublin / CNAM, Paris)
Moderator: Marija Mandić
This lecture explores how inter-state and civil wars impact on the state formation and the
transformation of political borders. Firstly, we look at the theoretical debates about the impact of
warfare on the creation and development of states with the focus on the strengths and weaknesses
of the neo-bellicist approach. We will also look at the alternative sociological explanations.
Secondly, we analyse the historical dynamics of state formation and the transformation of
political borders in the Balkans over the last two hundred years.
Recommended readings:
Siniša Malešević (2012) Did Wars Make Nation-States in the Balkans? Nationalisms, Wars and
States in the 19th and early 20th Century Southeast Europe. Journal of Historical Sociology, 25
(3): 299‒330.
Feinstein, Y., & A. Wimmer (2023) Consent and Legitimacy: A Revised Bellicose Theory of
State-Building with Evidence from around the World, 1500–2000. World Politics, 75 (1): 188‒
232.
12. EU Integration and the changing salience of political borders in the Balkans, 13.12.24.
Damir Kapidžić (University Sarajevo)
Stef Jansen (University Manchester, University Sarajevo)
Moderator: Olesia Marković
Political borders in the Balkans, especially between countries of the former Yugoslavia, have
been undergoing significant changes in permeability and salience over the past decades as a
consequence of conflict and EU integration. This has resulted in impermanent political realities
that are reflected both at the political and societal level. This class will explore what borders, in
light of past and ongoing EU integration, mean for Balkan countries.
