Slavic and Eurasian Studies | College of Liberal Arts
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Balkan-Circle

Balkan Circle Fridays at Noon

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The Balkan Circle is a bi-weekly seminar where lectures, presentations, exhibits, or open interactive dialogues will focus on any (and all) aspects of historical, political, economic, social and cultural phenomena in the (so-called) Balkans. The seminar is free and open to the public and will be held every other Friday during the semester from 12:00 pm to 1:15 pm.

We are very pleased that our online format led to greater engagement from the international community. Keeping this in mind, we've decided to continue our online presentations rather than regroup in our tiny second-floor conference room (as charming as it is). We will have occasional "in-person" speakers, but they will also be live-streamed to the international audience to allow for continued participation among The Circle.

Fall '23 Schedule

 

September 8 | Sustainable Solutions from the Margins: Earth Houses in 21st-Century Eastern Europe | Dóra Mérai (in person* and livestreamed)

September 22 |  Power, Mis-representation, and Symbolic Violence | Ioanida Costache

October 6 | Can Heritage that Divides Us Reconcile Us?: Experiences of Heritage-Led Reconciliation after the Yugoslav Wars | Višnja Kisić

October 20 | Balkan Cyberia: Cold War Computing, Bulgarian Modernization, and the Information Age behind the Iron Curtain | Victor Petrov

November 3 | Factotum and Fakir: The Translator of Bulgarian Literature into English | Angela Rodel

November 17 | How “Christian” were the Romanian Legionaries? Reassessing the Relationship Between Religion and Fascism in the Case of the Iron Guard | Ionut Biliuta (in person* and livestreamed)

 

*Balkan Circle in-person sessions take place in Burdine Hall 231

 

Spring '24 Schedule

 

January 26 | Collective Trauma, Collective Memory, and the Ethical Response-ability of Research: A Case Study from Albania • Lori Amy

February 9 | Power, Nation State and Society: Constitution and Policy Making in Bulgaria 1879-1944 • Markus Wien

February 23 | Post-Colonialist Perspectives on Roma and Racializations in Ottoman Turkey and Macedonia • Sonia Seeman

March 8 | EU, Western Balkans and Serbia: Stabilization to Stagnation? • Vladimir Petrović

March 22 | On the Colonial Origins of the Balkan Route • Piro Rexhepi

April 5 | Utopia of the Uniform: Affective Afterlives of the Yugoslav People's Army • Tanja Petrovic

April 26 | Disability Discourses in Interwar Romania • Maria Bucur

 

 

 

Past Speakers:

Recordings of the past presentors are available on our YouTube Channel.

Note: some recordings are unavailable due to speaker request or technical glitches.

Videos by country:

Non-recorded speakers:

  • Power, Mis-representation, and Symbolic Violence • Ioanida Costache
  • The Secret Police Dossier of Herta Müller: A "File Story" of Cold War Surveillance • Valentina Glajar
  • Remembering the Past, Constructing the Present: History and Albanian Identity in North Macedonia • Vasiliki Neofotistos
  • The Production of Space: A Balkan Perspective • Diana Mishkova
  • Under the Radar: Hezbollah on the Balkans • Ruslan Trad
  • Islamic Revivalism in Yugoslavia and the Crisis of Europe • Emily Greble
  • Rival Power: Russia's Challenge to the West in the Balkans • Dimitar Bechev
  • Nonaligned Modernism: Tracing Transnational Artistic Ties Between Second and Third Worlds • Bojana Videkanić
  • Report from internship at the Balkan Civil Society Development Network in Skopje • Michael Kiel
  • The Cold War from the Margins: A Small Socialist State on the Global Cultural Scene • Theodora Dragostinova
  • Kosovo: U.S. Bureaucracies Adaptation to Conduct Post-Combat Operations in a Dynamic Multi-National Environment • Jeremy Kasper
  • "Come See Swords and Yatagans / and Quite a Few Bulgarian Heads": Constructing a Greek anti-Bulgarian Culture of War during the War Decade of 1912-22 • Charalampos Minasidis

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