scholarly journals The Itineraries of the Orthodox Painters in the Eighteenth Century: The Common Aesthetics in South-East Europe

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugenia Drakopoulou
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
East Europe ◽  
Orthodox Christian ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Byzantine Art ◽  
South East Europe ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Balkan Area ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Christian Population

<p>During the eighteenth century, the aesthetic preferences of the Orthodox Christian population in the Balkans continued to depend upon the tradition of Byzantine art, which had been the case throughout the period following the Fall of Constantinople. The painters were scattered all over the Balkans, where the Orthodox population had been accustomed since previous centuries to the tastes emanating from Byzantine artistic tradition. The Patriarchate of Constantinople and Mount Athos played a crucial role, on account of their religious and political status, in the movements of Orthodox painters, whose missions and apprenticeships they regulated to a considerable degree. The great number of paintings, the observation of the itineraries of Orthodox painters throughout the Balkan area of the Ottoman Empire and the shared aesthetic of these works supply evidence of the development of a common painting language among the Orthodox population of South-East Europe during the eighteenth century, just before the formation of the nation-states.</p>

The Allies Do Not Come; the Italians Withdraw 1943

2020 ◽  
pp. 151-214
Author(s):  
Stevan K. Pavlowitch
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Independent State ◽  
East Europe ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
South East Europe ◽  
Economic Position ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
Fortress Europe

This chapter reviews the outcomes of the Allied victories at Stalingrad and in North Africa at the end of 1942. It analyses the expected assault on 'Fortress Europe', interest in the Balkans, and the mood in the peninsula. The chapter also discusses Yugoslavia's partisans safe base — the Independent State of Croatia (NDH). Along with pro-Allied anti-communist armed groups, they became a concern for the Germans, who wanted to destroy all native enemies, real and potential, before an Anglo-American landing. The chapter then takes a look at Germany's preparations for the imminent Italian withdrawal and the fear of an Allied attack. It also claims that Italy's economic position in the NDH had been weak from the start and its zone was the poorest. Ultimately, the chapter assesses the Italian withdrawal and how the Germans had to take over responsibility for the whole of south-east Europe.

Music in the Balkans

Music ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Samson
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Art Music ◽  
National Narratives ◽  
East Europe ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
South East Europe ◽  
International Visibility ◽  
Agrarian Communities ◽  
Political Communities ◽  
National Perspective

For the purposes of this article, “the Balkans” refers to the territories of present-day Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and the successor states of Former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia). The geographical scope has been determined principally by Ottoman presence and legacy in Europe, though the European part of present-day Turkey is not included. Nor is Hungary, despite the Ottoman presence there, since its cultural history is more closely aligned to Habsburg Central Europe. Conversely, Slovenia, which was never occupied by the Ottomans, is admitted, since it was drawn into the political communities of the two Yugoslav states. These days it is usual to describe the wider region as South East Europe, implying an accommodation to the European project. In contrast to this, the term “Balkans” has acquired pejorative connotations in some circles, signifying what is taken to be the darker past of the region. The art music of the Balkans is not widely known. Of individual composers, only George Enescu and Nikos Skalkottas have achieved anything like international visibility, though Josip Slavenski and Manolis Kalomiris are highly valued in some quarters. As a result, the major studies of art music are by native scholars, and in languages that are arcane to most. Yet there is no option but to persevere, since these studies are in many cases the only source of detailed information, especially given the absence of published scores for much of the repertory. In contrast, the traditional music of the region has been much foraged by scholars from without, and notably by North American academics. Partly because premodern music-making survived longer in the Balkans than in many other parts of Europe, ritual repertories from agrarian communities have highly distinctive qualities, and have often been subject to appropriation, a prey to exoticist agendas from without or to nationalist agendas from within. It is partly to correct an ideologically motivated imbalance in coverage that a number of younger scholars have been giving greater attention to Ottoman-influenced urban traditions from the early 20th century, and to present-day popular music. A separate scholarly thread running through literature on the region concerns the Orthodox chant that is found across the Christian Balkans. There is an industry of publication in this field, much of it dealing with the distribution and provenance of specific manuscripts. It should be noted that although this is a transnational repertory, it is frequently incorporated within national narratives. Once again, it has fallen to younger scholars to mitigate the distorting effects of this national perspective, notably by examining the connections that exist between Orthodox traditions and Ottoman sanat (art) music.

The Myths of the Crusades

2019 ◽  
pp. 25-39
Author(s):  
Martin Pugh
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Byzantine Empire ◽  
East Europe ◽  
South East Europe ◽  
Victorian Period ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
English Identity

This chapter examines the Crusades, which stamped their indelible mark on English identity. They formed a heroic episode, generated some of the iconic English figures, resulted in the adoption of the red cross as a symbol of England, and created a narrative that was to be resurrected later in the Victorian period. Yet the fact remains that they loom much larger in European history than in the history of the Muslim world; and even in Europe, their impact was largely erased during the period from the Reformation to the eighteenth century. Moreover, as one leading historian of the subject has put it: ‘Most of what passes in public as knowledge of the Crusades is either misleading or false’. Consequently, their significance must be heavily qualified in a number of ways. The most obvious is that they proved to be a failure. It is also arguable that not only did crusading fail, but it even undermined Christendom, in that it eventually weakened the Byzantine Empire, which lost its ability to protect Christians against the expansion of Turkish power in south-east Europe. Moreover, the motivation for participating in the Crusades was, at best, a mixture of the secular and the religious.

Muslim Culture and Reform in 18th Century South Asia

2003 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamal Malik
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Deep Roots ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Building Process ◽  
The World

AbstractUsually the European perception of South Asia and, related to it, academic research into this region, is informed by specific, powerful images and metaphors that establish a dichotomisation of the world. The reasons for this development cannot be analysed in detail here. Suffice it to say, however, that this organisation and designation of the world has deep roots. Until the Reformation, Europe was basically perceived only in terms of geographical boundaries. But the dichotomy between “Europe” and “Asia” acquired a new dimension in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when, in the wake of a change of paradigm into modernity, European self-consciousness gradually developed into a sense of European intellectual superiority. Just as a new form of collective identity had developed within the boundaries of Europe, based on the idea of “nation” in the late eighteenth century, and just as the members of the early nation-states forcibly dissociated themselves by definition from members of other societies in order to be able to establish their own identity, now, with the same intention, though on a different level, Europeans dissociated themselves from “Asia”, the “Orient” and “Islam”. The political recollection of important master narratives kept the mythical fictions in mind and imbued the nation-building process with enormous real power. This development towards a modern European identity was based, as can be deduced from many travellers' testimonies, on the history of reception, reciprocal perceptions, and the development of enemy images. In this process, the Orient and the Orientals were also used by Europeans as a didactic background for the critique of their own (European) urban societies. The literary technique of contextual alienation and distancing, such as can be found in Montesquieu's “Persian Letters”, was born in this period. These and following processes of projection were connected among others things with the fact that Europeans, as colonial masters, advanced to confront the world outside Europe. There they were faced with attitudes and norms that forced them to question their own perceptions. In doing so, they also tended to accept some of these strange and different ideas, and, thus, exposed themselves to cultural hybridisation which could then only be overcome by the reconstructing of their own culture as something “pure”, in contrast to the “degenerate” culture of the colonialised. In this way, collective antagonisms developed. Even the Oriental crusades that had been critically evaluated by European academicians, were now for the first time perceived in terms of cultural clash. Analogously, Europe and Asia were constructed in the eighteenth century and very predominantly in the nineteenth century in terms of arenas of power politics. For instance, it was during this time that the eastern borders of Europe were conceptualised, with the Balkans and Transoxania being considered as buffers or gaps between the two.

scholarly journals HFRS and hantaviruses in the Balkans/South-East Europe

2014 ◽  
Vol 187 ◽  
pp. 27-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatjana Avšič Županc ◽  
Miša Korva ◽  
Alemka Markotić
Keyword(s):  
East Europe ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
South East Europe

scholarly journals THE ROAD TO PEACE IN THE BALKANS IS PAVED WITH BAD INTENTIONS

2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-154
Author(s):  
Gregory R. Copley
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Independent State ◽  
East Europe ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The Road ◽  
South East Europe ◽  
The Stability

It has been long and widely forecast that the security situation in the Balkans — indeed, in South-Eastern Europe generally — would become delicate, and would fracture, during the final stages of the Albanian quest for independence for the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija. The Kosovo region is now a lawless area. It has been ethnically-cleansed of Serbs, and re-populated by Albanians who have progressively and illegally, over the past decades, migrated into the area. Years of so-called peacekeeping by the international community count for nothing. Kosovo’s presence as a nominally independent state, without any of the essential foundations to meet the true criteria for sovereignty, can in no way further the stability of the region, or of Europe. Neither can it serve US strategic interests, unless US interests can be defined as a breakdown of viability of Eastern and southern Europe. Not only Kosovo, but all of Albania and other Balkan communities have become captive of the criminal-political movements which owe their power to their alliance with Al-Qaida, Iran, and the Saudi-funded Wahhabist movements. Therefore, new warfare will be supported by many elements of the international Јihadist movements which work closely with Albanian groups such as the KLA along the so-called Green Transversal line (or Zelena Transverzala) — really a clandestine highway or network — which not only carries jihadists but also narcotics and weapons along international supply lines crossing from Turkey and the Adriatic into the Balkans and on into Western Europe. So, the broader battle is now being joined in South-East Europe, in Kosovo, Rashka, the Preshevo Valley, in FYROM, Montenegro, and Epirus being in large part proxy warfare which is symptomatic of the emergence of a new Cold War on a global scale. One can only imagine the negative consequences for Balkan stability if, for example, Turkey’s status changes and Ankara no longer feels obliged to temper its activities, or its use of Islamist surrogate or proxy groups to further pan-Turkish ambitions. On the other hand, we have not yet seen the completion of the break-up of Yugoslavia, and even the wrenching of Kosovo may not complete it. We will then see the dismemberment of some of the Yugoslav parts already independent, perhaps even the dismemberment of FYROM and Bosnia. Perhaps those State Department officials will be surprised, too, to see — a decade or two hence — the claims of autonomy emerging for parts of Arizona, Southern California, or Texas, citing the same pretext of “self-determination” now being claimed by those who moved across the borders to occupy Serbia’s Kosovo province. The Balkans region and the Eastern Mediterranean generally are entering a further period of crisis, insurrection, and possibly open conflict. None of the regional states, but particularly Serbia, are doing enough to address the security ramifications of the coming de facto independence of Kosovo. Finally, conflict issues in the Middle East, and specifically in Iraq, and relating to Iran, will continue to have a profound impact on the stability of the Balkans, and vice-versa

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