The studies in this volume present some of the major “historiographical wars” over the medieval Balkan past fought by the historians of competing nation states in the region. Еthnic origins and “national” makeup of medieval states and disputed regions; ownership of the historical heritage located in or associated with that territory; provenance or “national” consciousness of important historical personalities; the boundaries of a certain medieval state and its political, religious, and cultural influence on others – these are some of the issues around which major clashes between the modern Balkan historiographies recurred. The book is valuable to all those interested in how the medieval past becomes instrumentalized by the “national historians” in the service of constructing the national canons of history. Table of contents: Legacy, Tradition, Heritage and the History Writing in the Balkans Diana Mishkova Pages 1-50 Controversies Over Samuеl’s State Roumen Daskalov Pages 51-103 Skanderbeg: Figures of Paper, Figures of Stone Nathalie Clayer Pages 105-159 Art Wars: The Creation of Bulgarian Art History and the Balkan Controversies Over the Medieval Heritage of Macedonia Tchavdar Marinov Pages 161-218 Defending Our Lands in Ancient and Medieval Studies: The Albanian Case Alexander Vezenkov Pages 219-273 In Search of an Acceptable Past: The Bosnian Middle Ages and National Ideologies Nedim Rabić Pages 275-317
The concept of the Balkans as a separate region is directly related to the designation of a whole range of realia, phenomena, and notions as “Balkan,” such as “Balkan nationalism,” “Balkan languages,” “Balkan cuisine,” and “Balkan habits.” In any such case, one may argue whether and to what extent the respective phenomenon is representative of the Balkans and whether it is typical only of the Balkans. As a case study, I will analyze the appearance and the usage of the concept of the “Balkan city.” Of course, this is one among many possible cases, but it is particularly useful for one reason. Unlike “Balkan music” or “Balkan cinema,” not to mention “Balkan backwardness” or “Balkan mentality,” the problem of cities and urban networks makes it possible to see the spatial dimension of the problem: the objects of study appear distinctly on the geographical map. Thus one could more easily verify whether something called “Balkan” is actually typical for “the Balkans” (or for the “Balkan peninsula”), whether it covers the whole of the region or instead also includes territories outside its conventionally accepted borders. In this way, through the prism of urban history, I will try to examine from a different angle the problem of the spatial scope of the Balkans. Instead of drawing the boundaries of the region (or the “peninsula”) and searching for its specificities, I will start from one such specificity and try to map its territorial distribution.