Keridis, Dimitris, Ellen Elias-Bursac, and Nicholas Yatromanolakis, Eds. | Dulles, VA: Brassey’s, 2003
This volume selectively presents the original work of promising young scholars who have participated in the first, second, and third Kokkalis Graduate Student Workshop, a joint initiative of the Kokkalis Program on Southeastern and East-Central Europe at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Southeast European Study Group at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies of Harvard University. When studying the Balkan region, it is easy to get trapped in a web where facts and myths, history and stories, and the past and the present all intertwine. Untangling this web without falling into the traps of stereotyping and dramatizing is the ultimate motive underlying this initiative. The volume addresses commonly held perceptions that have been distorting Southeastern Europe’s image within the region and in the West. The themes addressed include: perceptions and identities; democracy, nationalism, and conflict; and political and social practices and outcomes. The essays included in the volume are inter-disciplinary and cover different historical periods, taking an innovative approach to their subject and following less-traveled paths to the study of the region. In doing so, they testify to the vitality of contemporary Balkan studies as a distinct area study by indicating different research directions and disciplinary methodologies. The volume is part of the Kokkalis Foundation-Institute of Foreign Policy Analysis' Southeastern European Policy Series.
