Modernizing the Balkans

František Šístek, Ph. D.

e-mail: frantsistek@volny.cz

Course Description

Modernization has been a crucial theme of Balkan history since the 19th century until present. In this course, we will chronologically explore diverse topics from different periods and areas of Southeastern Europe that can be broadly summed up under the label of modernization: technological and institutional modernization, urbanization, industrialization, nation-building and ethnic homogenization, mixed local rections to the process of "Westernization" and "Europeanization", erradication of blood feuds in the name of state centralization, racial nationalism and eugenics of the interwar period, forced migrations and ethnic cleansing, post-WWII socialist experiments, post-communist transition, neotraditionalism, the role of gender and sexuality, the impact of tourism, the post-modern return of religion into social life...

Goals and methods

The aim of the course is to present the Balkans as a lively, constantly changing region whose inhabitants have been - sometimes tragically, but often very creatively - struggling to overcome its peripheral status and backwardness in the hope for a better, more secure and prosperous future. The students will familiarize themselves with the representative works, ideas and problems regarding different phases and forms of modernization in the region. This will be achieved through a combination of lecture and seminar in each class, regular reading and discussions. The progress of each student will be checked by a final paper. The reading materials for each class have been selected with the aim of presenting the students primarily with the results of recent scholarship.

Requirements

Regular attendance and meaningful participation in discussions. In case that you cannot participate in a weekly class, please inform the teacher in advance.

Regular reading of the required texts for each class is obligatory for all participants. For most texts, a principal presenter will be selected in advance. After he/she outlines the main ideas of a particular text in an oral presentation (15-20 minutes), a general discussion will follow.

A final paper (15 pgs), closely linked to the content of the course, due after the course. Students are encouraged to discuss the proposed topics in advance. Topics can also be assigned by the teacher instead.

Evaluation and classification:

• 91 and more = A

• 81 - 90 % = B

• 71 - 80 % = C

• 61 - 70 % = D

• 51 - 60 % = E

• 0 - 50 % = F

participation in class 10%

contribution to discussions 25%

oral presentation 25%

final paper 40%

1 Introduction: Traditional Societies and Modernization in the Ottoman Balkans

Introduction, methodological questions regarding modernization in the context of our region. Traditional Balkan societies before the age of nationalism and industrial revolution. Modernization within the Ottoman Empire.

Required Reading: None.

Recommended Reading

Leften Stavrianos: The Balkans since 1453, New York 2000.

Donald Quataert: The Ottoman Empire 1700-1922, Cambridge 2005.

Raymond Detrez: Pre-National Identities in the Balkans, In: Roumen Daskalov, Tchavdar Marinov (eds.): Entangled Historie of the Balkans. Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies, Leiden – Boston 2013, 12-65.