Lecture series in Basle and Zurich

In 1992, the provocative slogan ‹La Suisse n'existe pas› (Switzerland does not exist) at the World Exhibition in Seville introduced a process of coming to terms with Swiss history and the Swiss (self) image in the public eye: Heroes and myths were bid farewell in order to face the future with imagination and cosmopolitanism. The motto of the lecture series ‹Les Balkans n'existent pas› picks up on this idea: In-depth knowledge about the Balkans should help to shed light on the future-oriented diversity and uniqueness of the region far away from foreign or domestic projections.

03.12.: NADA BOSKOVSKA, University Zurich: Macedonia: A country searching for its past

10.12.: SAMUEL M. BEHLOUL, migratio: Religion and (de)construction of the diaspora. Identity formation processes around the conflict of religion, ethnicity and transnationalism using the example of migrants from former Yugoslavia

17.12.: OLIVER JENS SCHMITT, University of Vienna: Fascist peasant mystics or right-wing social revolutionaries? Romania's Legion of the Archangel Michael as a fascist mass movement    

‹BALKAN NOMADS. TRAVELLING - CROSSING - MOBILITY›

Lecture series at the university of Zurich

As a consequence of the wars and political upheaval in South-Eastern Europe, cultural borders are becoming increasingly blurred and exchange relationships more diverse. The lecture series addresses, in particular, voluntary/involuntary border crossers: The cultural and artistic nomads of the Balkans whose work is not based on their origins or cultural topographies. Using examples from social history, economics, politics, literature, art, film and popular culture, we will discuss concepts of a nomadic existence as ‹mobile› models of life and thought which contradict settled lifestyles and static conceptions of culture.

03.12.: BARBI MARKOVIĆ, Vienn: Going out. Nomadic literature: Lecture and discussion

10.12.: INKE ARNS, Dortmund/Berlin: The NSK state in time - From Yugoslavia to Nigeria and back?

17.12.: TATJANA PETZER/SYLVIA SASSE, Theses on a nomadology of the Balkans