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(Rescheduled) IPP Workshop Series: Balkanism: Recurring Themes and Tropes in British and American Literature (Oriol Guni)

When

Jan 25, 2022 from 02:00 to 04:00 (Europe/Berlin / UTC100)

Where

Online (Webex)

Contact Name

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Rescheduled from 23.11.2021

Please click here to join the meeting. (Log in using any JLU G-/S-Kennung. This will take you directly to the meeting.)

 

Balkanism emerged in the late 1990s as a scholarly critique focused on untangling predominantly, but not exclusively, British and American production of knowledge about the Balkans. Grounded in the postcolonial critique of Euro-American scholarship, this framework has seen broad use in identifying and problematizing Balkanist tropes, particularly in scholarly, literary, film, and travel literature production. Constructed along the lines of Orientalism as problematized by Edward Said, these tropes have served a self-congratulatory purpose for the Euro-centric auto-images, in contrast to Orientalist ones, which, as a repository of allegories, has been an escape from the impetus of nineteenth-century industrialization.

 

The workshop will offer participants a critical overview of the major trajectories of Balkanist tropes, primarily in British and American literary production. The main themes and tropes of the Balkanist discourse will be presented through transmedia examples, allowing the participants to identify the key themes found in this discourse. These examples will lead participants towards the identification of the potential of the critique of those tropes. Finally, the participants will be invited to reflect collectively on whether Balkanism has been employed as a totalizing discourse about the Balkans, or whether it intersects with alternative ones.

 

Given the focus and the approach, the workshop should be of interest to both students who focus on the study of British and American Literature, the Balkans, and those interested in the nexus of power and knowledge.

 

References:

 

Todorova, Maria. Imagining the Balkans. Oxford University Press, 1997.

 

Hammond, Andrew. British Literature and the Balkans: Themes and Contexts. Brill, Studia Imagologica Series, 2010.

 

Goldsworthy, Vesna. Inventing Ruritania: The Imperialism of the Imagination. Yale University Press, 1998.

 

Note: The sessions of the IPP Workshop Series are open for BA, MA and PhD students and the participants do not require any previous knowledge to take part.

 

// Oriol Guni (GCSC) 

 

The IPP Workshop Series "Reading Culture: Established and Emerging Approaches" provides the space for IPP members to give a workshop that deals with current concepts and methods of literary and cultural theory related to their research interests. It aims at creating an interactive discussion for doctoral researchers as well as undergraduate students. The topics may range from general introductions to different "schools" of literary and cultural theory to concepts, methods and subjects of literary and cultural theory.