Now follows the abstract (cf. Balkan Studies 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) of Tatjana Marković (Graz/Belgrade): Balkan Studies and Music Historiography. (Self-)Representation between Nationalist Myths and Europeanisation

Balkan Studies in music historiography are mainly determined by conservative understanding that Balkan culture is still of predominantly peasant character. Consequently, presentation of the Balkan music/s is based much more on insight in traditional than in art music, esp. contemporary, or popular music and, as such, it is present in the framework of positivistic ethnomusicological writings, in the first place. Recent musicological contributions to Balkan Studies (meaning studies of Balkan, West Balkan, southeast European music) show a new, growing interest in the field, signified by two main policies: on the one hand, there are writings of the guardians of nationalist myths, who construct the concept of music history in accordance with their frozen (medieval) exclusive image of national identity and, on the other, writings of the pro-European orientated scholars, who stress the Balkans’ close connections to Western Europe. The intermingling and separation of these two approaches, their different ideological and methodological outcomes, as well as possible ways of future research, will be discussed.

The abstract (cf. Balkan Studies 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) of Karl Kaser (Graz): Disciplinary Boundaries in Question: Balkan Studies in a Globalizing World

The disciplinary boundaries between Balkan Studies and Near East and/or Middle Eastern Studies were basically drawn in the course of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century within a certain political framework and as results of European political interests. Arabic and Islamic Studies were considered as the study of the culturally other. Balkan Studies in this period of time were conceived as the »orient within«. The dissolution of the Habsburg and the Ottoman Empires by the end of 1918 changed the political landscape. Near East and Middle East Studies received the flavour of British and French Colonial Studies, whereas the German Reich was interested to explore the designated food deliverer, the Balkans, within its concept of Großraumpolitik.

Here follows the abstract (cf. Balkan Studies 1, 2, 3, 4) of Maximilian Hartmuth (Istanbul): Image-ing Balkans History: Non-Creative Others, Attention Deficits, and Art as a Problem

There are some fields in the humanities and social sciences, such as Nationalism Studies, in which the Balkans are very present, and others, such as art history and related disciplines, in which they are practically invisible. My paper is to question the impact of this condition on perceptions of the Balkans and Balkan-ness beyond the academia. Are the established interests of Balkan Studies really maintaining the image of the Balkans as an essentially conflictuous, non-creative space?