Serbia’s Orthodox Far-Right Increases its Visibility — and Adaptability — with Protests
There is something rotten in the state of Serbia. The on-going anti-government protests, which began on November 30th, 2018, are manifestations of major dissatisfaction with the rule of President Aleksandar Vučić. The…
Beyond Balkanism
Beyond Balkanism: The Scholarly Politics of Region Making By Diana Mishkova Routledge, 282 pp., £115, July 2018, 9780815376705 In 1998, Maria Todorova opened her seminal work, Imagining the Balkans, by asserting…
Sarajevo’s Cities: Being ‘We’ in Bosnia
Sarajevo has always been a remarkable place, in at least the sense of being worth a remark; not always for desirable reasons it must be said, although its beauty and hospitality have…
Memory of Wounds: Refugee Reflections Two Decades Later
The life of a refugee is counted in moments. Never knowing what tomorrow will bring. In the above photo are my people – the refugees – at the front of the factory…
The Arc of Kosovo
When I reflect on it, in one way or another, Kosovo has always been a part of my life. This was so from my earliest days growing up in an immigrant Serb…
Moldova’s Political Crisis: A Problem of the EU’s Own Making
On Moldova’s current crisis, the EU’s role in facilitating its state capture, oligarchs, and the country’s competing pro-EU political forces. Out on the distant fringe of the Balkans, The Republic of…
Aleksandar Vučić, the Director of Serbia’s Political Theater of the Surreal
Regime-organized rallies, fake analysts and experts, fake PhDs, and a tabloid-mediated alternate reality: Welcome to Aleksandar Vučić’s Serbia. ‘Disunity’ is the term that best describes Serbian society today. Under the authoritarian…
From Tradition to Art: Albanian Dowry Practices Adapt to the 21st Century
Among Albanians, it is tradition that when a woman is to be married, she must construct her dowry (Albanian: çejz, pronounced CH-aze). Taking the form of an exhibition that is supposed to…
The Erased: A New Film About the Forgotten Yugoslavs Deliberately Erased From Slovenia
It’s easy to take for granted all those documents that you have in your wallet. Driver’s license and ID, maybe even your passport, or if you’re in a country with national healthcare,…
Our Statement on the Pro-Vučić Russian-language Propaganda Site Balkanist.ru
Earlier this week, it was brought to our attention that a new-ish Russian-language portal calling itself Balkanist.ru exists. Its primary aim appears to be the publication of propaganda for the dictatorship of…