AP/HUMA 3816 3.00

Religion, Culture and Identity in the Balkans

This course explores the intersections between religion, culture and identity in the Balkans. It offers an interdisciplinary examination of this complex religious and ethnic mosaic through a wide range of sources, including consideration of the image of the Balkans in Europe and beyond.

HUMA 3816 3.0 M SU 2021 (S2)
Since the early 20th century, the term “Balkan” has become a metaphor for violent fragmentation, reversion to chaos and disorder, and return to non-civilization. Terms such as “Balkanization,” “Balkan ghosts,” “Balkan hatreds,” have gained currency in both popular and academic discourse. Yet the Balkans are also a historical reality composed of rich and nuanced experiences of religious and ethnic diversity, and centuries-long interaction and coexistence among Orthodox, Catholic and other Christians, Muslims, and Jews. The goal of this course is to examine the multiplicity of Balkan religious and cultural experiences. Emphasis is placed on the intersections between religion, culture, and identity: what they are, how they are shaped, and under what circumstances. The course engages in an interdisciplinary examination of this complex religious and ethnic mosaic by focusing on a wide range of sources: literary, historical, ethnographic, journalistic, and cinematic. It looks at the ways in which different Balkan religions and cultures have historically coexisted and interacted, investigates the factors that have periodically led them to outbreaks of conflict, and situates them in the new realities of the 21st century.