Archives par mot-clé : Comparatisme

Call for articles: For the Special Issue: “Southeastern Europe in Comparison: Beyond the Region and Back” | Deadline: October 15, 2025

CALL FOR ARTICLES

for the Special Issue of Southeastern Europe 

Southeastern Europe in Comparison: Beyond the Region and Back 

Guest editors: Diana Mishkova (CAS Sofia), Ulf Brunnbauer (IOS Regensburg) 

The question of how Southeastern Europe is discursively imagined and the practices that contribute to region making continue to attract scholarly interest. Despite the deconstructivist critiques of regional concepts— particularly the idea of “the Balkans”—many researchers still treat Southeastern Europe as a useful analytical  unit. At the very least, the region often serves as a productive starting point for framing and situating research  questions, including such that, implicitly or overtly, grapple with the processes and mediums producing  regions  

This special issue takes the latter observation as its point of departure. Its central aim is to explore how our  spatial units of analysis shift when we compare phenomena located in Southeastern Europe with similar  developments elsewhere. What are the relevant geographies for different phenomena, especially when we  reconstruct the spaces of communication and interaction that give rise to them? We invite contributions that  pursue consistently comparative approaches—moving beyond Southeastern Europe to propose new  geographies of comparison. Only through such comparisons can we identify what is truly specific or unique  about a region—and, by extension, what constitutes a region in the first place. 

We welcome contributions that compare Southeastern Europe with both neighboring, or other European,  regions and seemingly unrelated parts of the world. This approach, which we term a transcomparative  perspective, brings together comparative analysis and entangled histories. To paraphrase Lara Putnam, we are  interested not only in connections but also in what is connected: how do transnational entanglements and  global forces manifest differently—or similarly—across specific regions and localities? 

A genuinely comparative approach is essential for understanding the paradox of an increasingly  interconnected yet persistently heterogeneous world. Cultures, institutions, and individuals interact within  place-specific conditions and histories, which shape their capacity to engage with, adapt to, or resist global  dynamics. By comparing such constellations across diverse spaces, we can better understand regional and  local variations of globality—and relate Southeast European experiences to those of other regions. Perhaps  what we perceive as regional specificity is, in part, a reflection of our limited knowledge of other places.  Comparison can help us find out. 

We invite submissions from a range of disciplines, addressing historical or contemporary questions. We do  not privilege any particular analytical scale; on the contrary, we seek to assemble a special issue that moves  fluidly between local contexts and the broader scale of globality. Authors should clearly articulate the  geographies – subnational, national or regional – relevant to their subject matter and explain the added value  of their chosen comparative framework. What do we learn, for instance, by reading a phenomenon in the  Balkans alongside a similar one in Africa? What is the spatial logic of the zones of interaction and  communication that shape the issue at hand? 

We do not prescribe a fixed set of themes, but encourage contributions that engage with pressing debates and  draw on knowledge from Southeastern Europe and beyond. Topics of particular but not exclusive relevance  might include:  

post-imperial legacies and decolonization;  

space-making and spatial imageries;  

economic development and environmental change;  

institution-building and legitimacy;  

struggles for equality and dynamics of inequality.  

Along these lines, examples of comparison-geared questions might include: How do nineteenth-century  nationalizing projects in Southeastern Europe compare to those in South America? Why was the postwar  developmental state more successful in Taiwan and South Korea than in Romania and Bulgaria? How do  Southeastern European contact zones compare to those in other world regions? What are the conditions for  successful supranational regional integration in Europe and Southeast Asia? How does Balkan migrant  transnationalism in the U.S. differ from that in Europe? 

These examples are meant to inspire, not limit, the scope of contributions. We also welcome methodological  reflections on the challenges and benefits of comparison, including discussions of concepts such as  “similarity,” “difference,” and “family resemblance.” By heuristically connecting Southeastern Europe with  other regions, we aim to decenter dominant narratives while placing the region at the heart of new comparative  inquiries. 

Be bold. Ask big questions. 

The Journal Southeastern Europe is abstracted/indexed in Web of Science, Scopus and several other  data bases. It was rewarded the highest listing, A, by Italy’s Research Quality Committee, Valutazione della  Qualitat della Ricerca. In 2024 Brill entered a new stage as DeGruyterBrill. 

Contacts: 

– For conceptual issues – Prof. Diana Mishkova (mishkova@cas.bg) and Prof. Ulf Brunnbauer  (ulf.brunnbauer@ur.de

– For submission issues – Dr. Marco Zoppi (marcozoppi@hotmail.it

Timeline: 

– October 15, 2025 – abstract (300 words) and bio (150 words) to be sent to guest editors  (mishkova@cas.bg and ulf.brunnbauer@ur.de

– November 15, 2025 – feedback on the approval of the abstracts 

– March 15, 2026 – submission of articles (7,500 – 10,000 words) to editors  

– Spring 2026 – Authors workshop (most likely online) and editors’ feedback 

– May 31, 2026 – submission of articles to SEEU Download Author Instructions

Séminaire d’itinéraires et de débats en études turques, ottomanes, balkaniques et centrasiatiques

Marc Aymes, directeur de recherche au CNRS (CETOBaC), Agustín Cosovschi, postdoctorant (Hors EHESS), Fabio Giomi, chargé de recherche au CNRS ( CETOBaC ), Ariane Zevaco, docteure de l’EHESS (Hors EHESS)

Les Mercredi de 10 h à 13 h au Campus Condorcet, Cours des Humanités 93300 Aubervilliers), du 6 novembre 2019 au 17 juin 2020. Cf. calendrier des séances et salles ci-dessous

L’objectif : se familiariser avec les différents répertoires disciplinaires (anthropologie et ethnologie, études littéraires, géographie, histoire, philosophie, linguistique, musicologie, science politique, sociologie) ainsi qu’avec les principaux outils mis en œuvre dans ce que nous convenons d’appeler les « études turques, ottomanes, balkaniques et centrasiatiques ». Le séminaire vise ainsi à s’interroger sur les articulations entre la topique des études aréales et les dispositifs optiques des sciences humaines et sociales.

La démarche : suivre des itinéraires et prendre part à des débats, qu’ils soient propres à une « aire » ou transversaux à elle ; recenser les objets, catégories, espaces et temps auxquels nos terrains d’étude sont indexés ; et ce faisant, s’efforcer aussi de combiner des savoirs situés à des opérateurs de généralisation. Car ni la fréquentation d’une collectivité linguistique ou d’un corpus documentaire, ni la délimitation d’un groupe ethnique ou d’une cité nationale ne doivent circonscrire notre champ d’expérience scientifique.

En pratique : des textes préparatoires permettent, à chaque séance, d’étudier itinéraires et débats en situation. L’accent sur les débats permet de marquer le caractère dissensuel des pratiques et des savoirs des sciences sociales à un moment donné. L’accent sur les itinéraires donne à voir que ce dissensus peut aussi se retrouver au fil d’un parcours de recherche.

Continuer la lecture de Séminaire d’itinéraires et de débats en études turques, ottomanes, balkaniques et centrasiatiques