Changes of Emphases : Greek Christendom, Westernization, South-Eastern Europe, and Neo-Mitteleuropa
Year: 1999
Type: article
Abstract: The composition of a provincial history is only a legitimate undertaking if the province in question has formed down the ages a coherent social entity, distinct from and even hostile to its neighbours, enclosed within more or less stable frontiers, and conscious in some fashion of its unity.» 1 In these words, Marc Bloch intended to delineate the matter on which he focused his research.Accordingly, we are going to see if we can agree on considering the Balkans a province of Europe.2 Seeing, as I do now, the title I announced for this conclave of scholars dealing with the Balkan area, I am shocked at my own temerity.Particularly so in that I appear to be bringing owls to the goddess Athena, or, as we say in Romania, coxcombs to the gardener.My hope is to show how some stages in the historical development of this region coincide with definitions, old and new, of South-Eastern Europe.One can choose to emphasize the existing contrasts in the region, or one can allow them only secondary importance and retain instead the homogeneity of mores and institutions.The Balkan disunity vs. the homo-balkanicus 3
Source: Balkanologie
Author: Andrei Pippidi
Language: French
Subfield: Cultural Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W209797577