Center for Linguistic and Cultural Studies BALCANICA

Posted on behalf of Irina Sedakova, Head of BALCANICA

This Center of the Institute for Slavic Studies (Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow) celebrated its first birthday on 25 March 2008 with the conference МАРТЕНИЦА, MĂRŢIŞOR, ΜΑΡΤ’Σ, VERORE… Tatiana Civjan and Maksim Makartsev of the Institute for Slavic Studies are also affiliated with BALCANICA. The Center’s mandate is the continued support of the multidisciplinary Balkan studies launched in the 1960s in the Department of Structural Linguistics (now Department of Typology and Comparative Linguistics), which range from linguistics and, more specifically, the typology of the Balkan Sprachbund to Balkan Weltanschauung and culture (mythology, folklore, arts, music and theatre) in synchrony and diachrony, from the ancient until the modern times. The Center will carry on with the organization of biennial Balkan symposia (the tenth was held in March 2009), publish scholarly work on Balkan topics in Russia and contribute to Balkan periodicals abroad (such as Linguistique balkanique, Zeitschrift für Balkanologie and Revue des études sud-est européennes). It will serve as a bridge between Balkan scholars working abroad and in Russia, take part in international collaborative projects and conferences, including the congresses and interim conferences of AIESEE (Association internationale d’études du Sud-Est européen). And, last but not least, the Center will coordinate and promote the work of younger scholars, provide to them resources, organize seminars and lectures. The next big event, the round table ЦВЕТНИЦА, DIELA E LULEVET, DUMINICA FLORILOR, ΒΑΓΙΟΤΣΥΡΙΑΤΣΗ… will focus on the vegetative code of Palm Sunday in the Balkan, Baltic and Slavic regions (30 March 2010). The topic of the Eleventh Balkan Symposium is Balkan Spectrum: from Light to Color (March 2011).

Contact Information:
Phone: +7 (495)938-19-43
Email: balcanica2008@yandex.ru
Website: www.inslav.ru