Identity and Conflict in the Balkans

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Identity and Conflict in the Balkans

• Russian 275

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Basic information

• Instructor George Gutsche
• gutscheg_at_u.arizona.edu
• http//russian.arizona.edu/balkans
• Office hours will be posted
• Course listserv balkans_at_listerv.arizona.edu

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Introduction to an area of the world that is

• Complicated
• Dangerous
• Rich in tradition
• Linguistically and culturally diverse
• Multi-national

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Three Figures Americans Associate with the Balkans
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Balkan Issues and Hollywood

• Behind Enemy Lines (2001)

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What are the Balkans?

• Mountains (Stara planina)
• Peninsula

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Defining the Balkans

• Balkan
• Balkan Mountains Stara Planina (Old Mountains)
  in Bulgaria Haemus Mountains (Latin name)
• Balkan geographic zone begins south of the Sava
  R. and Danube R. to Mediterranean, Adriatic and
  Aegean Seas (but can also include Slovenia and
  Romania)

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Mountain Ranges
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Balkan Countries

• Albania
• Bulgaria
• Greece
• Romania (Rumania)
• Yugoslavia (Croatia, Serbia-Montenegro,
  Bosnia-Hercegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia)
• Slovenia

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Former Yugoslavia

• Croatia
• Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Yugoslavia Montenegro, Kosovo, Vojvodina, Serbia
• Now Serbia-Montenegro
• Kosovo protectorate
• Macedonia
• Slovenia

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Kosova (Kosovo) (Currently a protectorate)
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News
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Key Terms

• Balkanization
• Ethnicity
• Identity
• Nationality

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Balkanization

• Result of division into small often hostile units
• Historical basis in Balkan wars 1911-13
• Primarily used to refer to regions or territories
• Pejorative

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Identity

• Set of characteristics by which something is
  recognizable or known
• Set of behavioral or physical characteristics by
  which a person is recognizable as a member of a
  particular group
• Quality (or condition) of being the same as
  something else
• Set of enduring personality traits

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Exercise

• How would you characterize/explain your identity
  as an American?

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Constructing identity

• Abstract notion with philosophical implications
• Construction and constructing overused and
  misleading terms
• Ordinary terms (like choosing and changing
  and developing) are more precise

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Ethnicity

• Condition belonging to a particular ethnic group
• Ethnic pertaining to a subgroup within a
  social-cultural system that claims or is accorded
  special status on the basis of a set of traits.
• Traits are complex and variable, and can include
  religious, linguistic, ancestral (genetic), and
  physical characteristics

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Nationality

• Status belonging to a particular nation by
  origin, birth, or naturalization
• Status having common origins or traditions
• Status considered to constitute a nation
• National character
• Status existing as a politically autonomous
  entity

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Truth

• Fact
• Fiction
• Myth (folklore, superstition, custom)

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Myth

• Story, or characters and themes in a story, often
  with supernatural elements, that is accorded
  special status in a society by custom or
  tradition.
• Implications
• May have little basis in historical fact
• May give expression to hopes
• May give focus to fears and anger

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Why People Believe Weird Things

• Dogmatism is comfortable and reassuring
• Satisfies desire for nice, neat, simple
  explanations
• Our goal to understand human actions, not to
  scorn them (Spinoza)

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Languages of the Balkans

• Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian
• Bulgarian
• Slovenian
• Macedonian
• Albanian
• Rumanian
• Greek
• Hungarian
• Romany

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Alphabets

• Latin
• Cyrillic
• Greek
• Pronunciation issues

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Albanian Blood Feuds

• Mountain peoples
• Generational chains of violence
• Not just the Balkans
• White Faces asking sincere forgiveness
• Breaking the cycle