The Balkans

Mission Possible
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-90-485-7405-6
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 272 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 239 mm, Gewicht: 568 g

Reihe: Central European University Press

In this incisive book, Maria Todorova revisits the region she famously theorized, asking not only what has changed in the past thirty years but whether the conceptual tools used to understand the Balkans still make sense. Treating the Balkans as a historically contingent and ultimately transient construct, Todorova traces their rise, transformations, and anticipated exhaustion, while confronting long-standing silences—especially around race. She then turns a critical eye to Balkan studies itself, examining its institutionalization and the allure, limits, and misapplications of post- and decolonial frameworks. The final section shifts scale dramatically, using brief biographies to reveal how individuals are shaped—and distorted—by scholarly and political frames. Subtle, unsparing, and deeply reflective, this book reopens the epistemological question of the Balkans at a moment when easy paradigms have become impossible to sustain.

Zielgruppe

Academic

Autoren/Hrsg.

Todorova, Maria

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Stadt- und Regionalsoziologie
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Regionalwissenschaften, Regionalstudien
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Illustrations

Preface: Ascent

I. Tracing the Balkans or Mission Possible: Fallout

The Beginning of the Balkans

Race as a Category of Analysis

The End of the Balkans

II. Measuring the Balkans or Mission Possible: Dead Reckoning

Institutionalization of Balkan Studies and Dominant Trends

The Zeitgeists of Empire, Coloniality, and Their Derivatives

On Decoloniality

Do the Balkans Need Their Own Epistemology?

III. Framing Balkan Biographies or Mission Possible: Rogue Nation

Pancho Vladigerov: Art Music? World Music? National Music?

Christian Rakovsky: Cosmopolitanism and the World Revolution

The Chronocoenosis of Angelina Boneva

Postface: Rappel

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Todorova, Maria
Maria Todorova is the Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell Professor Emerita of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.