Balkan as Metaphor: Academic Volume Deconstructs Western Gaze on the Region
Released by MIT Press in 2003, Balkan as Metaphor features essays that delve into how the West depicts the Balkans. Scholars from the region contend that the Balkans are viewed as an ideological framework associated with chaos and violence. A significant focus is the impact of Western discourse on these portrayals, drawing on psychoanalytic concepts influenced by Slavoj Žižek. The book includes Vesna Goldsworthy's examination of idealized narratives of the Yugoslav wars, Milica Bakic-Hayden's study of Byzantine art, and comparisons between 'Balkanism' and Orientalism. It juxtaposes universal artists like Eugène Ionesco with local talents such as Ismail Kadare, while also tackling themes of gender, wartime sexual violence, and nationalism, questioning the implications of the term 'Balkans.'
Key facts
- The book Balkan as Metaphor was published in 2003 by MIT Press.
- It is an edited academic volume featuring essays by scholars from the Balkan region.
- The central argument posits the Balkans as an intellectual construct shaped by Western discourse.
- Essays employ psychoanalytic concepts influenced by Slavoj Žižek's The Sublime Object of Ideology.
- Contributors analyze cultural figures including Eugène Ionesco, Julia Kristeva, Theo Angelopoulos, Ismail Kadare, Emir Kusturica, and Goran Bregovic.
- The volume critiques Western anthropological fascination with structures like the zadruga extended family.
- Essays apply theories from Carl Schmitt and Claude Lévi-Strauss to Balkan politics and nationalism.
- The book deliberately uses the term 'Balkans' to confront stereotypes rather than replace it with 'Southeastern Europe'.
Entities
Artists
- Slavoj Žižek
- Eugène Ionesco
- Julia Kristeva
- Theo Angelopoulos
- Ismail Kadare
- Goran Bregovic
- Eleni Karaindrou
- Emir Kusturica
Institutions
- MIT Press
- Verso
- American University Press
- Academe
Locations
- Cambridge
- Massachusetts
- San Francisco
- United States
- London
- United Kingdom
- Washington D.C.
- Balkans
- Serbia
- Greece
- Albania
- Macedonia
- Romania
- Bosnia
- Kosovo
- Yugoslavia
- Europe
- West