Welcome to the Department of Southeast European History and Anthropology

Historical memory in the public sphere and the associated treatment of the past are important research focal points that cover a variety of subject areas. The public use of history manifests itself in different areas. The analysis of images of history in school textbooks is just as much a part of this as observations on shared history, which attempts to counteract the division into one's "own" images of history versus the images of "others". A central area is the historiography of south-eastern Europe and its effectiveness in creating meaning and legitimizing systems. Last but not least, historical narratives in tourist contexts also offer an important focus of research, not least because the framing of destinations and attractions through textual and visual representations of history have proven to be an essential component of nationally- or regionally-oriented identity politics in South Eastern Europe.

Research on historical family and gender relations has been firmly established for three decades and is grounded in the social significance of family in the Balkan countries. The internal relationships of the "Balkan family", as they appeared above all in the west of the Balkan Peninsula, were patriarchal, patrilineal and patrilocal in the pre-modern period. Due to historical and social reorientations in the post-socialist period, the Yugoslav wars and the resurgence of traditional values from pre-socialist times, both re-patriarchalization and westernization tendencies in family and gender relations have emerged as areas of focus. Partly as a result of these developments, feminist movements are finding it difficult to gain a foothold. Research on family and gender relations is interdisciplinary in nature: they incorporate historical as well as sociological, demographic and anthropological issues and methods.

Just one hundred years ago, the Ottoman Empire was described as the "sick man of Europe". The construction and use of stereotypical attributions are part of the Orientalism-Balkanism complex and form an essential element of research into this area, which focuses on images of health and illness. Going beyond symbolic meanings, the social history of medicine comprises a further focus: this deals with the historical occurrence of epidemics, the social role of doctors and the disciplining, the classification and selection of the population through quarantine, disinfection, vaccinations and other hygiene measures, as well as through eugenic and racial anthropological discourses. For the population of the predominantly agrarian societies of the Balkans, these measures, among others, represent an early point of contact with modernity.

The past and present of south-eastern Europe have been decisively shaped by migration, whilst is hardly an area of social and political life that is not directly affected by the impact of migration. These effects are complex, and extend far beyond the region. The experience of migration often represents a break with one's own history, requiring a reorientation in terms of space and time, and it is usually accompanied by an increased need for social anchoring and security. Dealing with historical and current migration processes therefore represents a major challenge in both theoretical and methodological terms - here, historical-anthropological approaches are particularly suited to probing the multi-layered phenomena of migration.

Viewed through the reductive lens of the Orient-Occident dichotomy, Muslim cultures were long described as static and inferior to the West. They had resisted any form of innovation, a state of affairs attributed to religion. Avoiding this Eurocentric and orientalizing view and using a constructivist approach, this project examines mutual processes of perception, exchange and visualization from the early modern period to the present day in relation to the European and Anatolian territories of the Ottoman Empire and its successor states, as well as in relation to Muslim migration societies. Instead of a traditional philological orientation, this project's focus is on historical-anthropological as well as cultural and social science aspects. Further points of focus include the handling of the Ottoman heritage and the investigation of patriarchal structures and gender relations in Muslim societies both within and outwith Asia Minor.

Research in this area places visual culture at the center of theoretical and methodological approaches. Cultural phenomena are analyzed in terms of their visual representations, their visibility and perceptions associated with them. By examining the nature, role and function of images, fundamental questions are posed about concepts of ordering and structuring societies and about the variety of forms and practices in which cultures are produced, negotiated and used along historical, political, social and economic processes. Through the establishment of the image database VASE [Visual Archive of Southeastern Europe], collected visual data will be made available to researchers, teachers and students in order to facilitate an active engagement with images from the past.

A historical methodology that places people as individual, social and cultural actors at the center of its research cannot be said to commit itself to a single approach, either theoretically or methodologically. The human sciences require a variety of methodological approaches (including the natural sciences). At the centre of our research is a mixture of methods drawn from the historical sciences and cultural anthropology. Work in the archives and libraries is supplemented by communicative research strategies, or vice versa. Specifically, we apply comparative methods as well as memory research, communicative research, historical and anthropological image research and historical demography; research is also guided by methods that are capable of uncovering micro-perspectives in which people as actors come to the fore.

Field research - communicative research

An important method of historical anthropology is field research / communicative research. Spending time in the "field" being researched, collecting empirical data through observation and questioning, and reflecting on one's own position can provide insights into numerous social and cultural phenomena and critically illuminate the processes by which knowledge comes into being. Field research / communicative research methods are particularly relevant when it comes to exploring attitudes and opinions and the motives behind actors' own actions. Methods of multi-sited ethnography are also increasingly being used in migration research, which not only focus on actors in different places, but also include a greater interdisciplinary diversity, taking in areas such as cultural and media studies.

Historical demography

Historical family and gender research also demands the application of quantifying and demographic methods when making use of serial sources such as censuses, tax lists, and church records. Household structures are determined by demographic events (births, marriages, deaths and migrations) and are also influenced by demographic patterns. Research in Graz has therefore also focussed on historical conditions and developments in the areas of fertility, nuptiality, mortality, morbidity and migration in South Eastern Europe. We have particular expertise in the area of marriage patterns and household formation, as well as the historical development of difference and conformity with Western and Central European patterns.

Historical and anthropological image research

Iconographic and iconological analyses of individual images demand attention to the context in which the image was created, the various contexts in which it was used, and the historical and socio-cultural conditions of its reception. Quantitative photographic analyses using the serial-iconographic method enable synchronous comparison of different image collections or for the diachronic observation of an image genre or motif over a longer period of time. The pictorial is not only used as a primary historical source, but can also be used as a research tool in interactive communication - for example in picture interviews.

Micro-perspective - Agency

The holistic view of south-eastern Europe and the objecthood of this region - derived from foreign domination resulting from the intervention of great powers - characterise Western historiography. The significance of such approaches only becomes apparent when they are combined with micro-perspective contexts and the horizons of ordinary people. This relationship also applies in reverse: the boundaries and relevance of the lifeworlds of (small) "ethnic" groups, such as the Vlachs or Pomaks, or the scope of the agency of migrant shepherds and their families, only become comprehensible when they are related to supra-regional processes - in this case to nation and nation-state formation, the formation of state borders that cut through settlement areas and migration routes, and regional and global (agricultural) economic developments.

From comparison to reciprocity

Different methods of comparison are used to investigate these questions. Starting from historical comparison on a synchronous as well as on a diachronic level, the geographical field extends from intra-European to non-European regions. A key component of our approach is the critical examination and deconstruction of the '"right-wrong" dichotomy which has arisen in Western perceptions of the Balkans, itself based on a model of a European norm. Instead of focussing on "difference" or "commonality", our research aims to uncover areas of mutual influence and complexity, such as in the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and Muslim cultures.