On 3 November 2023 at 16:30 at the Centre for Advanced Study Sofia will be held a Balkan studies seminar, part of the international project “Historiographical Wars in the Balkans”, funded by the Bulgarian Science Fund. The two presenters will be Nathalie Clayer from the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris and Nedim Rabic from the Institute for History in Sarajevo.

Nathalie Clayer will present the topic

Writing post-imperial state-building in a new way. The case of Albania (1920-1939)

Abstract: How to capture and understand the Albanian state-building process during the Interwar and post-imperial transformation of its social spaces? The idea is to make as a snapshot movement, not fixing the lens on the institutions as we usually observe them, nor fixing it only on the trajectories of individuals that would show the importance of infra- or transnational dynamics, but making the “camera” constantly moving in order to follow the process in its movement to better grasp the complexity of the dynamics at play of a “state in society” in the making.

Nedim Rabic will present the topic

Contemporary Perceptions of the Middle Ages in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract: The Middle Ages used to be more important than right now. In recent decades, it has largely disappeared from the programs of state-supported institutions in Central and Western Europe, as well as from political slogans. However, in the Balkans, the Middle Ages are more relevant than ever.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Middle Ages made a big comeback in political discourse right before the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The motive for such a lecture is primarily the growing interest in the Middle Ages in the last years among all three dominant nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this lecture, I will try to point out the possible reasons as well as their manifestations in the public space.