Russia and the Balkans: Real and imagined relations
Our discussion was devoted to political and cultural relations between Balkan nations and Russia, with particular focus on mutual perceptions and common myths. The debate also concerned a peculiar asymmetry of mutual expectations and sympathy and the meaning of the Balkans in the Russian political ideology (since the Romanov period until now), including plans of rebuilding The Byzantine Empire and the idea of Pan-Slavism, as well as Balkan aspirations of the USSR and Russian Federation. The reason for organizing this discussion was a recent publication by Artes Liberales Faculty, University of Warsaw and DiG Publishing House The Image of Russia in the Balkans. Ed. Jolanta Sujecka, Warsaw 2016 (=Colloquia Balkanica vol. 4).
GUESTS:
Prof. Dr hab. Ilona Czamańska – historian and balkanist, professor of the Adam Mickiewicz University; head of the Department of Balkan studies, The Institute of History, The Faculty of History, Adam Mickiewicz University. She’s an editor-in-chief of the Balcanica Posnaniensia. Acta et studia magazine (since 1993); she is also a head of The Polish Commission of Balkan Culture and History at Polish Academy of Science in Poznan and a member of The Poznań Society of Friends of Sciences.
Prof. Dr hab. Jan Kieniewicz – historian and diplomat; professor of the Artes Lierales Faculty, UW; Head of the LIBAL Department and the Networked Transdisciplinary Doctoral Studies (the Faculty of Artes Liberales and Faculty of History, University of Warsaw). He is a publisher and an editor-in-chief of series Artes Liberales Debates (Warsaw, Faculty of Artes Liberales, University of Warsaw).
Dr. hab. Jędrzej Paszkiewicz – historian and balkanist, professor of the Department of Balkan Studies, The Institute of History, The Faculty of History, Adam Mickiewicz University.
Prof. dr hab. Jolanta Sujecka – slavist and balkanist, professor of the Artes Liberales Faculty, University of Warsaw and the Institute of Slavic Studies, PAS; head of the “Bałkańskie Śródziemnomorze” Commission, Artes Liberales Faculty, University of Warsaw; publisher and an editor-in-chief of the series Colloquia Balkanica (Warsaw, DiG).
Dr. Hieronim Grala – historian and diplomat, professor of the Artes Liberales Faculty, University of Warsaw; head of the “Polono-Russica” Commission (Artes Liberales Faculty, University of Warsaw). He’s a member of the Polish-Russian Historians Commision. He is also a publisher and an editor-in-chief of the series “Pamiatniki istorii Wostocznoj Jewropy. Istoczniki XV-XVII ww." (Warsaw-Moscow). He is the Honorable Professor of the MAEL (Moscow Academy Economics and Law) and a member of the Committee on Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences.