SYLLABUS

Сourse “Ethnic Processes on Balkans in the XIX-XXI centuries”

for masters of Ethnic and Confessional Processes in the Modern World program.

3 ECTS Credits, semester “B”

Course location in masters program

The course “Ethnic processes on Balkans in the XIX-XXI centuries” referredto a master's programprofessionalblock. This course isimplementedbythe Modern and Contemporary History Department, History Faculty, Southern Federal University.The coursepresupposes thatstudents havebasic knowledgein subjects suchas “World History”, “History of Southern and Western Slavs”, “International Relations History”. Thisdisciplinecomplementssuch courses ofmaster's programas “History ofEthnoconfessional Processes", “Security Dilemma in Ethnic Studies”, and other courses focusing on various regions (Europe, Noth America, Caucasus, Asia).

Aim of the course

The aim of this course is to introduce students to the ethnoconfessional processes in Balkan region. In this interdisciplinary course students should

  • get familiar withkey termssuch as “balkanism”, “ethnoconfessional process”, “national identity”,“Ethnonationalism”, “Ethnocentrism”,“genocide”;
  • analyze main ethnic groups on Balkans and their relationships for many centuries;
  • understand political and religious authority role as well as the process of ethnic confrontation;
  • understand and analyze modern points of view onpeaceful settlement of aconflict, and the search ways and means to resolve conflict.

Teaching forms and methods

This course should be taught in English. Core and additional readings include items both in English and in Russian. During the session, students will be expected to attend the lectures, to write one critical commentary, and to take the final examination at the end of the course. Students will get 3 credits after successful completion.

Contents

№ / Subject / Form of Lesson / Duration / Date
Module 1. History of Ethnic Processes on Balkans / 16 hrs
1. / Introduction. / Lecture / 2 hrs
2 / Balkans Ethnoconfessional Conflicts: Historical Roots / Lecture / 4 hrs
3. / Nations Formation Process on Balkans in the XIX Centuries. Movement for Nation Independent on Balkans / Lecture / 4 hrs
4. / Tito and National Question. Attempt to Form “Yugoslav National Identity” / Lecture / 4 hrs
5. / InterimControl Knowledge / 2 hrs
Module 2. Ethnoconfessional Conflicts in Balkan Region / 14 hrs
6. / Ethnic and Confessional Maps of Balkans in Modern Time. Concepts of “Greater Nation” / Lecture / 4 hrs
7 / Civil War in Yugoslavia: Ethnic Cleansing / Lecture / 6 hrs
8 / Recognition of Kosovo Independence / Lecture / 4hrs
Тотаl / 30hrs

Requirements

During this course students are required to undertake work at special time and form and to take the final examination at the end of the semester.

  1. Critical Commentary. A Critical Commentary is an essay written on the ethnoconfessional processes on Balkan region.

A Critical Commentary should correspond to such criterions as clear structure, detailed answer, authorship, content, usefulness, arguments and bias.

A Critical Commentary should consist approximately 1,500 – 2,000 words.

Critical Commentary is graded on the 50-rates scale.

2. Basic Class Exam. The final examination given at the end of the course is anticipated to require the students to answer two questions. Students have to attend all lections and to submit the required written works to get an admission to the Class Examination. Students who fail an examination two times re-entitle to have a new examiner or commission.

Criterions of exam mark are answering precise question, understanding the material, quality of argument, clear structure.

Grade scale and Transfer of Credits.

This course is graded according to the following scale: Excellent, Good, Satisfactory and Unsatisfactory. Also students are awarded with grades according to the ECTS (3 ECTS for this course).

CoreReading

  1. Cohen L.Broken Bonds: Yugoslavia’s Disintegration and Balkan Politics in Transition. Westview Press, 1995
  2. Denitch B.Ethnic Nationalism: The Tragic Death of Yugoslavia. Minneapolis, London: University of Minnesota Press, 1996
  3. Glenny M. The Balkans: Nationalism, War & the Great Powers, 1804-1999. Penguin Books, 2001
  4. Petersen R. Understanding Ethnic Violence: Fear, Hatred, and Resentment in Twentieth-Century Eastern Europe. CambridgeUniversity Press, 2002
  5. Ramet S.P. Balkan Babel. Politics, Cultire and Religion in Yugoslavia. San-Francisco: Westiew Press, 1992
  6. Ramet S. P. Nationalism and Federalism in Yugoslavia, 1962-1991, 2nd ed.Bloomington, In.: IndianaUniversity Press, 1992
  7. Silber L., Little A. Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation. Penguin Books, 1997
  8. Pavlowitch S. History of the Balkans 1804-1945. N.Y., Addison-Wesley Pub Co, 1999
  9. Woodward S. Balkan Tragedy: Chaos and Dissolution after the Cold War. Brookings Institution Press, 1995

Additional Reading

  1. Bieber F. Montenegro in Transition. Problems of Identity and Statehood. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2003
  2. Burg S., Shoup P. The War in Bosnia-Herzegovina : Ethnic Conflict and International Intervention. M.E. Sharpe, 2000
  3. Cigar N. Genocide in Bosnia: The Policy of Ethnic Cleansing.Texas A&M University Press, 1995
  4. Charles R. Shrader. The Muslim-Croat civil war in Central Bosnia:

a military history, 1992-1994. TexasA&MUniversity Press, 2003.

5. Perritt Jr. H. Kosovo Liberation Army: the inside story of an insurgency. University of Illinois Press, 2008

6. Roudometof V. Nationalism, Globalization, and Orthodoxy: The Social Origins of Ethnic Conflict in the Balkans. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2001

7.Judah T. The Serbs: history, myth, and the destruction of Yugoslavia. YaleUniversity Press, 2000