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Across the nineteenth century European history, philology, archaeology, art, and architecture turned from a common classical vocabulary and ideology to images of pasts and origins drawn primarily from the Middle Ages. The result was a paradox, as scholars and artists, schooled in the same pan-European vocabularies and methodologies nevertheless sought to discover through them unique and, frequently, oppositional national identities. These essays, edited by Patrick J. Geary and Gábor Klaniczay, focus on this all-European phenomenon with a special focus on Scandinavia and East-Central Europe, bearing witness to the inextricable links between cultural and scientific engagement, the search for national identity, and political agendas in the long nineteenth century that made the search for archaic origins an entangled history. Contributors include: Walter Pohl, Ian Wood, Sverre Bagge, Maciej Janowski, Sir David Wilson, Anders Andrén, Ernő Marosi, Carmen Popescu, Ahmet Ersoy, Michael Werner, Joep Leerssen, R. Howard Bloch, Pavlína Rychterová, Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri, Stefan Detchev, Florin Curta, and Péter Langó.
Why do nations come into conflict? What factors lead to the horrors of ethnic cleansing? This timely book offers clear-eyed answers to these questions by exploring how national identity is shaped by place, focusing especially on Serbia, Hungary, and Romania. Moving beyond studies of nationalism that consider only the economic and geostrategic value of territory, George W. White shows that the very core of national identity is intimately bound to specific places. Indeed, nations define themselves in terms of spaces that have historical, linguistic, and religious meaning, as Serbs have clearly demonstrated in Kosovo. These territories are concrete expressions of a nationAIs identity, both past and present. With his detailed analysis of the places that define national identity in Southeastern Europe, White convincingly shows why territorial disputes so often escalate into war.
"In a world of continual conflict, rethinking the way we communicate with other cultures, religions, or nations is of paramount importance. Standing in the way is the unconscious assumption that our own views reflect ‘the way things are’ – an assumption both inefficient and harmful. The Way Things Aren’t: Deconstructing ‘Reality’ to Facilitate Communication explores communication as a meeting point between different perceptions of reality, presenting how our assumptions and convictions hinder effective communication with those who are different from us. Featuring case examples from Somalia, Romania, and other regions, the chapters describe how authorities and the media often create ‘reality’ to relegate some people, cultures, languages, or religions to ‘the wrong side of the tracks’. Featuring scholars and practitioners from many disciplines, this discussion challenges readers with the idea that in order to remain open for new perspectives we must be aware that things are not always ’the way things are‘. "