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Books by Nenad Stefanov

Boundaries and Borders in the Post-Yugoslav Space, 2021

The disintegration of Yugoslavia, accompanied by the emergence of new borders, is paradigmaticall... more The disintegration of Yugoslavia, accompanied by the emergence of new borders, is paradigmatically highlighting the relevance of borders in processes of societal change, crisis and conflict. This is even more the case, if we consider the violent practices that evolved out of populist discourse of ethnically homogenous bounded space in this process that happened in the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990ies.

Exploring the boundaries of Yugoslavia is not just relevant in the context of Balkan area studies, but the sketched phenomena acquire much wider importance, and can be helpful in order to better understand the dynamics of b/ordering societal space, that are so characteristic for our present situation.

This volume approaches the topic of mobility, communication and borders in Southeast Europe by of... more This volume approaches the topic of mobility, communication and borders in Southeast Europe by offering the fi rst detailed historical study of the land route linking Istanbul with Belgrade. After this route that diagonally crosses Southeast Europe had been established in Roman times, it was as important for the Byzantines as the Ottomans to rule their Balkan territories. In the nineteenth century, the road was upgraded to a railroad and, most recently, to a motorway. The contributions in this volume focus on the period from the Middle Ages to the present day. They explore the various transformations of the route, its transformative role for the cities and regions along its course and the different local actors as well as those from the centers. The overall aim is to gain a deeper understanding of Southeast Europe by foregrounding historical continuities and disruptions from a long-term perspective.

Harrassowitz Verlag Wiesbaden , 2017

Grenzen waren für die Gesellschaften des Zentralbalkans bis zum Ende des 19. Jahr­ hunderts unbek... more Grenzen waren für die Gesellschaften des Zentralbalkans bis zum Ende des 19. Jahr­ hunderts unbekannt. Als ab 1878 nach annähernd fünfhundert Jahren osmanischer Herrschaft Grenzen gezogen wurden, manifestierte sich das Neue der nun national­ staatlich gefassten Herrschaftsordnungen in den Diskursen, Imaginationen und Praktiken der Grenzziehungen. Vormalige Zentren osmanischer Regionen wurden mit einem Mal zu Randgebieten, die zwischen den neuen Nationalstaaten heftig um­ stritten waren. Nenad Stefanov untersucht anhand der Landschaft um die Städte Pirot und Dimitrov­ grad (Caribrod), wie sich eine spätosmanische Region in die Peripherie zweier National­ staaten (Bulgarien und Serbien) verwandelte. Die Herausbildung der neuen Form von Territorialität, die sich in der Grenze manifestierte, war ausgesprochen konfliktreich und führte zwischen 1885 und 1945 zu nicht weniger als vier Kriegen zwischen Serbien (bzw. Jugoslawien) und Bulgarien. Im Zentrum der Studie steht jedoch weniger die Konfliktgeschichte zweier Staaten als vielmehr die lokale Gesellschaft und deren Um­ gang mit der neuartigen Barriere. Über einen Zeitraum von rund 150 Jahren – von der Zeit der Reformen im Osmanischen Reich in den 1850er Jahren bis 1989 – wird analy­ siert, wie sich die Wechselbeziehung zwischen den Akteuren der Zentren und jenen der lokalen Gesellschaft gestaltete. Es wird gezeigt, wie sich gesellschaftliche und staatliche Grenzziehungen veränderten, wie die Menschen darauf reagierten und welche Formen von Eigensinn, aber auch Anpassungen sichtbar wurden.

Papers by Nenad Stefanov

The text deals with the question of how far regional attributions are used by local actors to cou... more The text deals with the question of how far regional attributions are used by local actors to counteract the compulsion to identify with national collectives. This is exemplified by the town of Caribrod/Dimitrovgrad on the present-day Serbian-Bulgarian border. This is analyzed in relation to the ways in which local actors appropriate or reject the regional attribution Šopi. This is pursued here in three steps. First, the relationship between regional self-image and the institutionalization as a national minority is examined when the existence of a Bulgarian minority was recognized in socialist Yugoslavia. In a second step, those moments of regional experience are analyzed that do not fit into national classifications-in particular, the Ottoman heritage is addressed regarding perceptions of and orientations in social space, which are contained in the designation Šopluk. Then, thirdly, we examine how keywords such as Šopi or Šopluk, categories that initially appear as negatively connoted external attributions are then appropriated in an obstinate fashion by local actors and appear as a more or less conscious refusal to identify with clearly delineated national collectives.

Comp. Southeast Europ. Stud. , 2021

The author analyses how the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) has gained significance f... more The author analyses how the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) has gained significance for the new leadership of the League of Communists in Serbia since the mid-1980s. With its authority as a scientific institution, the SANU legitimised the political measures implemented to centralise and consolidate authoritarian rule. The new perception of the Yugoslav crisis, marked by ethnicisation and self-victimisation, used Kosovo as the focus and became the dominant stance on the war and authoritarian rule of the 1990s. However, as the author shows, a critique of these developments needs to be included in the analysis in order to adequately grasp the tense dynamics.

The article discusses the so-called "traditional Russian-Serbian friendship". This relationship b... more The article discusses the so-called "traditional Russian-Serbian friendship". This relationship between the two states is assessed as an "invention of tradition". The contribution examines changes in Serbian society during the 1990s which brought about a new turn towards Russia. In the mental maps that had emerged in the context of new ethno-nationalism during the late 1980s, the West had initially been central and served as evidence of an allegedly original love of freedom on the part of the Serbian people. This map stood in contrast to the other republics of former Yugoslavia that were seemingly "infested" by the Vatican and Germanophilia. The experience of sanctions imposed on Serbia in 1992 and the refusal to reflect on this experience led to a reorientation of existing mental maps. The fixation on Russia had the function to spare individuals the question of responsibility for crisis and war. Even today, this mental map serves as a relieving function in Serbia and it is increasingly coming to the fore.

Zeitschrift Fur Balkanologie, Feb 3, 2014

Die Kartierung der Nation und die Zdhigkeit der Terra Incognita. Überlegungen zu einer Darstellun... more Die Kartierung der Nation und die Zdhigkeit der Terra Incognita. Überlegungen zu einer Darstellung von Regionen in Bulgarien in historischer Perspektive. NENAD STEFANOV Der Blick auf Bulgarien, der versucht, historische Regionen auf dem Gebiet des heutigen bulgarischen Staates ausfindig zu machen, scheint ins Leere zu schweifen. Zumindest stellt sich spontan der Eindruck ein, in Bulgarien gäbe es keine solchen historischen Regionen, wie sie dieser Band thematisiert. In einem zweiten Anlauf erscheinen allerdings verschiedene Regionen auf der Landkarte: angefangen vom Südosten, der Strandia über die Rhodopen, Plovdiv als einem Zentrum 'Ihrakiens, dem gopluk um Sofija bis zu Dobrudia, ganz im Nordosten. Doch handelt es sich hierbei um historische Regionen, wie sie die Kriterien dieses Projekts zu fassen versuchen? Oder ist es notwendig, über das heutige Staatsgebiet hinaus zu blicken, um Makedonien und 'Ihrakien als historische Regionen mit einzubeziehen? So erscheint das Gebiet des heutigen Bulgarien von verschiedenen Ablagerungen unterschiedlicher Herrschaftsformen geprägt: dem byzantinischen Reich, den mittelalterlichen bulgarischen Staaten, sowie schließlich als eine der Kernprovinzen des Osmanischen Reiches. An diese Fragen lässt sich auch in der Weise herangehen, indem das heutige Bulgarien als historische Landschaft selbst betrachtet werden kann, als historische Region. So lässt sich etwa dieses Gebiet im Kontext des Osmanischen Reiches als historische Region denken, bildete es doch als zentraler Teil Rumeliens gemeinsam mit Anatolien die Kern-Vilajets des expandierenden Osmanischen Reiches. Oder ist es geraten, weiter ins Mittelalter zurück zu gehen und zu beobachten, wie sich seitdem regionale Einheiten verändern oder im Übergang ins Osmanische Reich bestehen bleiben? Es wird deutlich, dass sich demnach unterschiedliche Anknüpfungspunkte für eine Erzählung dessen finden lassen, was eine historische Region in diesem Raum sein kann. Ebenso wird deutlich, dass im Bezug auf Bulgarien nicht einfach eine bestimmte historische Region mit ihrer Gestalt in ihrem Wandel referiert werden kann. Vielmehr werden Brüche und Übergänge sichtbar.

Peripheral Pasts. Remembering the Interwar Period in the Serbian-Bulgarian Border Area This contr... more Peripheral Pasts. Remembering the Interwar Period in the Serbian-Bulgarian Border Area This contribution is focusing on the ambiguities and shortcomings of the notion of “collective memory”. Particularly if the Balkans are in question, this notion can obscure the very strong connection between “collective memory” and the legitimation of undemocratic, authoritarian power structures. Here, collective memory is highlighted as a tool of legitimating authoritarian rule. However, in this notion whole societies are transformed into homogenous collectives, ignoring thereby societal complexity, in which different narratives of the past, sometimes being even opposed to each other, can evolve. More specifically, the idea of a homogenous collective created by “collective memories” ignores the tensions between the national center and peripheral regions, since the latter can (and did) articulate memories which deviate from the “central” narrative. The mentioned aspects of legitimation of power, t...

Comparative Southeast European Studies, 2013

Südosteuropa. Zeitschrift für Politik und Gesellschaft, 2010

Nationalismus im spät- und postkommunistischen Europa, 2008

Boundaries and Borders in the Post-Yugoslav Space, 2021

The disintegration of Yugoslavia, accompanied by the emergence of new borders, is paradigmaticall... more The disintegration of Yugoslavia, accompanied by the emergence of new borders, is paradigmatically highlighting the relevance of borders in processes of societal change, crisis and conflict. This is even more the case, if we consider the violent practices that evolved out of populist discourse of ethnically homogenous bounded space in this process that happened in the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990ies.

Exploring the boundaries of Yugoslavia is not just relevant in the context of Balkan area studies, but the sketched phenomena acquire much wider importance, and can be helpful in order to better understand the dynamics of b/ordering societal space, that are so characteristic for our present situation.

This volume approaches the topic of mobility, communication and borders in Southeast Europe by of... more This volume approaches the topic of mobility, communication and borders in Southeast Europe by offering the fi rst detailed historical study of the land route linking Istanbul with Belgrade. After this route that diagonally crosses Southeast Europe had been established in Roman times, it was as important for the Byzantines as the Ottomans to rule their Balkan territories. In the nineteenth century, the road was upgraded to a railroad and, most recently, to a motorway. The contributions in this volume focus on the period from the Middle Ages to the present day. They explore the various transformations of the route, its transformative role for the cities and regions along its course and the different local actors as well as those from the centers. The overall aim is to gain a deeper understanding of Southeast Europe by foregrounding historical continuities and disruptions from a long-term perspective.

Harrassowitz Verlag Wiesbaden , 2017

Grenzen waren für die Gesellschaften des Zentralbalkans bis zum Ende des 19. Jahr­ hunderts unbek... more Grenzen waren für die Gesellschaften des Zentralbalkans bis zum Ende des 19. Jahr­ hunderts unbekannt. Als ab 1878 nach annähernd fünfhundert Jahren osmanischer Herrschaft Grenzen gezogen wurden, manifestierte sich das Neue der nun national­ staatlich gefassten Herrschaftsordnungen in den Diskursen, Imaginationen und Praktiken der Grenzziehungen. Vormalige Zentren osmanischer Regionen wurden mit einem Mal zu Randgebieten, die zwischen den neuen Nationalstaaten heftig um­ stritten waren. Nenad Stefanov untersucht anhand der Landschaft um die Städte Pirot und Dimitrov­ grad (Caribrod), wie sich eine spätosmanische Region in die Peripherie zweier National­ staaten (Bulgarien und Serbien) verwandelte. Die Herausbildung der neuen Form von Territorialität, die sich in der Grenze manifestierte, war ausgesprochen konfliktreich und führte zwischen 1885 und 1945 zu nicht weniger als vier Kriegen zwischen Serbien (bzw. Jugoslawien) und Bulgarien. Im Zentrum der Studie steht jedoch weniger die Konfliktgeschichte zweier Staaten als vielmehr die lokale Gesellschaft und deren Um­ gang mit der neuartigen Barriere. Über einen Zeitraum von rund 150 Jahren – von der Zeit der Reformen im Osmanischen Reich in den 1850er Jahren bis 1989 – wird analy­ siert, wie sich die Wechselbeziehung zwischen den Akteuren der Zentren und jenen der lokalen Gesellschaft gestaltete. Es wird gezeigt, wie sich gesellschaftliche und staatliche Grenzziehungen veränderten, wie die Menschen darauf reagierten und welche Formen von Eigensinn, aber auch Anpassungen sichtbar wurden.

The text deals with the question of how far regional attributions are used by local actors to cou... more The text deals with the question of how far regional attributions are used by local actors to counteract the compulsion to identify with national collectives. This is exemplified by the town of Caribrod/Dimitrovgrad on the present-day Serbian-Bulgarian border. This is analyzed in relation to the ways in which local actors appropriate or reject the regional attribution Šopi. This is pursued here in three steps. First, the relationship between regional self-image and the institutionalization as a national minority is examined when the existence of a Bulgarian minority was recognized in socialist Yugoslavia. In a second step, those moments of regional experience are analyzed that do not fit into national classifications-in particular, the Ottoman heritage is addressed regarding perceptions of and orientations in social space, which are contained in the designation Šopluk. Then, thirdly, we examine how keywords such as Šopi or Šopluk, categories that initially appear as negatively connoted external attributions are then appropriated in an obstinate fashion by local actors and appear as a more or less conscious refusal to identify with clearly delineated national collectives.

Comp. Southeast Europ. Stud. , 2021

The author analyses how the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) has gained significance f... more The author analyses how the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) has gained significance for the new leadership of the League of Communists in Serbia since the mid-1980s. With its authority as a scientific institution, the SANU legitimised the political measures implemented to centralise and consolidate authoritarian rule. The new perception of the Yugoslav crisis, marked by ethnicisation and self-victimisation, used Kosovo as the focus and became the dominant stance on the war and authoritarian rule of the 1990s. However, as the author shows, a critique of these developments needs to be included in the analysis in order to adequately grasp the tense dynamics.

The article discusses the so-called "traditional Russian-Serbian friendship". This relationship b... more The article discusses the so-called "traditional Russian-Serbian friendship". This relationship between the two states is assessed as an "invention of tradition". The contribution examines changes in Serbian society during the 1990s which brought about a new turn towards Russia. In the mental maps that had emerged in the context of new ethno-nationalism during the late 1980s, the West had initially been central and served as evidence of an allegedly original love of freedom on the part of the Serbian people. This map stood in contrast to the other republics of former Yugoslavia that were seemingly "infested" by the Vatican and Germanophilia. The experience of sanctions imposed on Serbia in 1992 and the refusal to reflect on this experience led to a reorientation of existing mental maps. The fixation on Russia had the function to spare individuals the question of responsibility for crisis and war. Even today, this mental map serves as a relieving function in Serbia and it is increasingly coming to the fore.

Zeitschrift Fur Balkanologie, Feb 3, 2014

Die Kartierung der Nation und die Zdhigkeit der Terra Incognita. Überlegungen zu einer Darstellun... more Die Kartierung der Nation und die Zdhigkeit der Terra Incognita. Überlegungen zu einer Darstellung von Regionen in Bulgarien in historischer Perspektive. NENAD STEFANOV Der Blick auf Bulgarien, der versucht, historische Regionen auf dem Gebiet des heutigen bulgarischen Staates ausfindig zu machen, scheint ins Leere zu schweifen. Zumindest stellt sich spontan der Eindruck ein, in Bulgarien gäbe es keine solchen historischen Regionen, wie sie dieser Band thematisiert. In einem zweiten Anlauf erscheinen allerdings verschiedene Regionen auf der Landkarte: angefangen vom Südosten, der Strandia über die Rhodopen, Plovdiv als einem Zentrum 'Ihrakiens, dem gopluk um Sofija bis zu Dobrudia, ganz im Nordosten. Doch handelt es sich hierbei um historische Regionen, wie sie die Kriterien dieses Projekts zu fassen versuchen? Oder ist es notwendig, über das heutige Staatsgebiet hinaus zu blicken, um Makedonien und 'Ihrakien als historische Regionen mit einzubeziehen? So erscheint das Gebiet des heutigen Bulgarien von verschiedenen Ablagerungen unterschiedlicher Herrschaftsformen geprägt: dem byzantinischen Reich, den mittelalterlichen bulgarischen Staaten, sowie schließlich als eine der Kernprovinzen des Osmanischen Reiches. An diese Fragen lässt sich auch in der Weise herangehen, indem das heutige Bulgarien als historische Landschaft selbst betrachtet werden kann, als historische Region. So lässt sich etwa dieses Gebiet im Kontext des Osmanischen Reiches als historische Region denken, bildete es doch als zentraler Teil Rumeliens gemeinsam mit Anatolien die Kern-Vilajets des expandierenden Osmanischen Reiches. Oder ist es geraten, weiter ins Mittelalter zurück zu gehen und zu beobachten, wie sich seitdem regionale Einheiten verändern oder im Übergang ins Osmanische Reich bestehen bleiben? Es wird deutlich, dass sich demnach unterschiedliche Anknüpfungspunkte für eine Erzählung dessen finden lassen, was eine historische Region in diesem Raum sein kann. Ebenso wird deutlich, dass im Bezug auf Bulgarien nicht einfach eine bestimmte historische Region mit ihrer Gestalt in ihrem Wandel referiert werden kann. Vielmehr werden Brüche und Übergänge sichtbar.

Peripheral Pasts. Remembering the Interwar Period in the Serbian-Bulgarian Border Area This contr... more Peripheral Pasts. Remembering the Interwar Period in the Serbian-Bulgarian Border Area This contribution is focusing on the ambiguities and shortcomings of the notion of “collective memory”. Particularly if the Balkans are in question, this notion can obscure the very strong connection between “collective memory” and the legitimation of undemocratic, authoritarian power structures. Here, collective memory is highlighted as a tool of legitimating authoritarian rule. However, in this notion whole societies are transformed into homogenous collectives, ignoring thereby societal complexity, in which different narratives of the past, sometimes being even opposed to each other, can evolve. More specifically, the idea of a homogenous collective created by “collective memories” ignores the tensions between the national center and peripheral regions, since the latter can (and did) articulate memories which deviate from the “central” narrative. The mentioned aspects of legitimation of power, t...

Comparative Southeast European Studies, 2013

Südosteuropa. Zeitschrift für Politik und Gesellschaft, 2010

Nationalismus im spät- und postkommunistischen Europa, 2008

Nationalism in Late and Post-Communist Europe, 2008

https://trafo.hypotheses.org/31887, 2021

By Florian Riedler and Nenad Stefanov. Public discourse and official historiography in Southeast ... more By Florian Riedler and Nenad Stefanov. Public discourse and official historiography in Southeast Europe still understand the Ottoman period as ‘backward’. This backwardness is particularly associated with social and cultural immobility. According to this perspective, the Ottoman state dominated the Balkan Peninsula and prevented it from ‘moving forward’ and ‘progressing’ like the rest of Europe.

This summer school, supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), which takes place i... more This summer school, supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), which takes place in Ohrid and thus, almost in the center of the Balkans, is primarily aimed at young researchers and academics from this region: Northern Macedonia, Albania, Greece and Bulgaria. The town of Ohrid-situated on a triangle of countries and thus on borders-traditionally stands for the bridging of borders. This is also the main topic of our summer school: how borders are drawn and how they can be overcome. The focus is on how memories, past and history serve to construct closed communities , draw boundaries-and just as much to look on the possibilities to overcome boundaries by reflecting on the past, by analyzing how memories are narrated, how history is created. Nationalist exclusivism and intercultural entanglements still form a field of tension today, which is constantly being reactivated, especially against the background of current social upheavals and political instability. This tension between a tradition of entanglement in the Balkans and ever new surges of creating closed communities, the ambition to establish ethnically homogeneous territories, becomes particularly visible in the interrelation between memory and delimitation. Memory focusing exclusively on narratives of "ethnogenesis" is thereby ideologically instrumentalized as "fuel" for processes of demarcation and delimitation. In such an instrumentalized access to the past, the memory of traditions of entanglement beyond closed ethno-confessional communities is lost. The thematic focus of the summer school is thus on the question of how discourses of memory and politics of history (co-)produce demarcations, but also help to overcome them. We are particularly interested in an actor-centered perspective, in actors in various social segments, the significance of memory and oblivion in their actions, and practices that affect forms of reflection on remembrance. We will also be looking at phenomena of obstinate remembrance, which are more or less consciously opposed to the official narratives. The controversy and political conflict about "Skopje 2014" is one example that shows how remembrance is reflected in the processes of authoritarian legitimation of power and the ways of challenging such legitimations by different societal actors. The main objective of this Summer-School is to bring different approaches concerning remembrance and b/ordering from different disciplines together in order to better understand dynamics of imposing boundaries and the ways of overcoming them. This also promises a better understanding of societal processes, which are characterized by various sorts of demarcations and practices of b/orderingwhile at the same time traditions of (un-)conscious entanglements seem to vanish.

Universidade de São Paulo – HU Berlin. Joint research project In order to elaborate the possi... more Universidade de São Paulo – HU Berlin. Joint research project

In order to elaborate the possibilities of a reformulated universalist critical theory of society, and to reflect on both its inadequacies and indispensability, is seems promising to focus on the transfer, adaptation and modification of ideas in different social and historical contexts.

The tensions that exist between universalist concepts and methodologies, on the one hand, and the development of social and cultural theory in different geographical and historical contexts, on the other, is paradigmatically exemplified in the international reception of the
Frankfurt School. Its Critical Theory -- to put it briefly -- is characterized
by the attempt not only to maintain the idea of universal emancipation regardless of ethnic, confessional etc. specificities, but also to take seriously the historically specific social conditions that have shaped politics, culture and psychological character structures in particular contexts. More: https://crossingborders.hu-berlin.de/de/projekte

The conference seeks to investigate which insights the history of the Eastern and South Eastern E... more The conference seeks to investigate which insights the history of the Eastern and South Eastern European diasporas in the West provides for the political, cultural, and societal history of the Cold War era.