Southeast Europe's history of the last two centuries is marked by deep transformations and upheavals: the emergence and disappearance of states; ethnic conflicts and wars; changes of political systems; economic crises; migration movements; and natural disasters. Most of these upheavals have been experienced as deep crises forcing people to adapt to often radically new situations. This can cause crisis management to become a permanent way of life. The book focuses on the cultures of crisis. It analyzes the reactions of societies or individuals to them, their impact on everyday life, on peoples' strategies of coping, on the processes of adaptation, and on peoples' attitudes. Focus is placed on crises relating to migration and post-socialist transformation, to politics and religion, and to labour relations. (Series: Ethnologia Balkanica, Vol. 18) [Subject: Sociology, Southeast European Studies, Politics]Ã?Â?Ã?Â?

This book looks at the financial (2007-2008) and the refugee (2015-present) crises and post-crisis development in the EU. The key argument here is that the (mis)management of these crises has been in part conditioned by the specific course of the Europeanisation which occurred during the integration of the post-socialist East. The enlargement processes ran on the premises of a shared European identity, in effect turning the social contract of the new Europe into a cultural contract. This has resulted in betraying the commitment to core values of democratic development, both East and West. The book specifically studies the impact of the “cultural turn” through the discourse of the transition in the Balkan periphery of the ex-Yugoslavian region. Based on rich theoretical and regionally specific empirical research, it will be of interest to scholars in the fields of EU integration, Eastern European studies, cultural studies, studies of post-socialism, and border studies.

This volume focuses on emotions of people in Southeast Europe. Grief and sadness take on different forms of expression. In the era of socialist rule laughter could express political resistance; for labour migrants visiting their country of origin evokes feelings of being at home. Cities attract visitors by appealing to emotions and people try to relive times of national glory by historical re-enactments. Gossip is a means of expressing emotions, smells and rituals become expressions of remembered emotions. Emotions are a factor researchers must always take seriously, both of the people studied and their own.

The papers in this volume continue our focus on emotions of people in Southeast Europe. Grief and sadness are, of course, universal, but they take on different forms of expression. Strong emotional values are often attached to specific foods (e.g. the kurban), usually food is of great importance for labour migrants and in times of crisis. Likewise, dress can be of great emotional significance and value. Wars as well as communist collectivization often lead to emotional consequences such as trauma. Smells and tastes can become expressions of actual or remembered emotions, a fact that can also concern the researchers themselves. Klaus Roth is professor em. at the Institute for European Ethnology of Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. Milena Benovska is professor em. of the Dept. of Ethnology and Balkan Studies of the South-West University of Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. Ana Luleva is Assoc. Prof. at the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in Sofia.

The historical upheavals in Southeast Europe since the early 20th century brought about deep transformations of people's everyday lives and their life courses. The concept of ‘life course’ enables the understanding of human lives within their socio-cultural and political contexts, stressing agency and people’s everyday experience. Balkan contexts invite for analyses that bridge political and social changes and their influence on individual life courses. The papers discuss problems such as family life and parenthood, ages and ageing, life-cycle rituals and the artistic expressions devoted to them. The authors present manifestations of the social differentiation and cultural multiplicity under post-socialist or post-colonial conditions – from developing contemporary global life styles among the emerging urban middle class to the ghettoization of some social or age groups. This volume focusses on developing family cultures, on experiencing socialization and age, on ‘old’ and ‘new’ life cycle rituals and their artistic representations in contemporary Southeast Europe.

The historical upheavals in Southeast Europe since the early 20th century brought about deep transformations of people’s life courses. The concept of 'life course' enables the understanding of human lives within their socio-cultural and political contexts, stressing people’s everyday experiences and agency. The papers in this volume discuss problems such as the impact of migration and mobility on families, such as economic migration transforming traditional structures into individualistic strategies. Other papers give examples of ruptures of life worlds caused by the impact of dramatic historical events. Demonstrating the agency of actors instead of presenting them as passive victims, some authors present approaches that are innovative for the region. Apart from various forms of migration and their impact on life courses, the volume also includes contributions on the role of religion and social memory in the family.

A provocative study of the critical problems that are crippling Europe and causing an increasing anti-Americanism looks at the return of the ethnic hatred, class divisions, and war that previously wreaked havoc on Europe, as well as the rise of such new issues as declining birthrates, growing Islamic fundamentalism, and an unsustainable economic model. Reprint. 15,000 first printing.

Ethnos and citizens : versions of cultural-political construction of identity -- Reconciliation of the spirits and fusion of the interests : "Ottomanism" as an identity politics / Alexander Vezenkov -- The people incorporated : constructions of the nation in transylvanian romanian liberalism, 1838-1848 / Kinga-Koretta Sata -- We, the Macedonians : the paths of macedonian supra-nationalism (1878-1912) / Tchavdar Marinov -- History and character : visions of national peculiarity in the romanian political discourse of the nineteenth-century / Balázs Trencsényi -- Nationalization of sciences and the definitions of the folk -- Barbarians, civilized people and Bulgarians : definition of identity in textbooks and the press (1830-1878) / Dessislava Lilova -- Narrating "the people" and "disciplining" the folk : the constitution of the Hungarian ethnographic discipline and the touristic movements (1870-1900) / Levente T. Szabó -- Who are the bulgarians? : "race," science and politics in fin-de-siècle Bulgaria / Stefan Detchev -- The canon-builders -- Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj and the Serbian identity between poetry and history / Bojan Aleksov -- Faik Konitza, the modernizer of the Albanian language and nation / Artan Puto -- Shemseddin Sami Frashëri (1850-1904) : contributing to the construction of albanian and turkish identities / Bülent Bilmez

What shapes the cultural, political and ideological values of young people living in Southeastern Europe? Which identities matter to them? How are their values changing, and how can they be changed? Who is changing them? Europe’s periphery is the testing ground for the success of European values and identities. The future stability and political coherence of the Union will be determined in large measure by identity issues in this region. This book examines the ways in which ethnic and national values and identities have been surpassed as the overriding focus in the lives of the region’s youth. Employing bottom-up, ethnographic, and interview-based approaches, it explores when and where ethnic and national identification processes become salient. Using intra-national and international comparisons of youth populations of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia, contributors uncover the mechanisms by which ethnic identities are evoked, reproduced and challenged. In addition to exploring political, regional cultural generational and class identities, the contributors examine wider questions of European unity. This volume offers a corrective to previous thinking about youth ethnic identities and will prove useful to scholars in political science and sociology studying issues of ethnic and national identities and nationalism, as well as youth cultures and identities.