The Complex Cultural Identity of the Balkans - Ronelle Alexander

The Balkan Peninsula is home to many different ethnic groups who have encountered various difficulties in sharing this living space. Yugoslavia, for example, splintered into seven countries through a series of wars that seem to have been primarily about cultural identity. Explore how these modern states formed and the features that define them, including folklore, language, the arts, and the role of socialism. Examine how the cultural factors that describe these groups divide them on one level while unifying them on another.

Ronelle Alexander, professor of Slavic languages and literature at UC Berkeley, teaches courses about the Balkans, especially former Yugoslavia. She has conducted research in Macedonian, Bulgarian, Bosnian, and southern Serbian villages, and is the author of the standard textbooks and reference grammars of Bulgarian and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• OLLI @Berkeley
• University of California
• Berkeley
• adult education
• Ronelle
• Alexander
• Balkan Peninsula
• political history
• Yugoslavia
• culture
• identity