Handbuch Balkan

English summary: The Handbuch Balkan (Balkan Handbook) looks at the Balkans as a single region and as an individual European cultural space which is not identical to South Eastern Europe but instead can be defined as the area which was under Ottoman rule and subject to its cultural influence during the Middle Ages - in other words, more or less present-day Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and, in a particular way and with certain limitations, Romania and...
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English summary: The Handbuch Balkan (Balkan Handbook) looks at the Balkans as a single region and as an individual European cultural space which is not identical to South Eastern Europe but instead can be defined as the area which was under Ottoman rule and subject to its cultural influence during the Middle Ages - in other words, more or less present-day Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and, in a particular way and with certain limitations, Romania and Greece. The handbook, which contains a total of 33 individual contributions by internationally acknowledged experts in the relevant (sub-) disciplines, is divided into the following four thematic parts: history, Europeanization, languages and material and spiritual culture. The handbook is an easy-to-use and effective reference work on the Balkans providing European Studies (and especially South East European Studies) departments currently being set up at numerous universities with key information based on an interdisciplinary approach as well as with a sound basis for further research. In addition, it broaches the subject of still an existing ambivalence in the minds of Europeans when it comes to their mental map of the Balkans, thus making a positive contribution to encouraging change. German description: Das Handbuch Balkan erfasst den Balkan kompakt als eigenen europaischen Kulturraum, der nicht mit der Region Sudosteuropa identisch ist, sondern per definitionem jenen Raum beschreibt, der im Hochmittelalter unter osmanischer Herrschaft stand und von ihr kulturell gepragt wurde - grosso modo also (das heutige) Bulgarien, Serbien, Montenegro, Bosnien, Makedonien, Kosovo, Albanien sowie spezieller und mit Einschrankungen Rumanien und Griechenland. Das Handbuch gliedert sich dabei in vier thematische Blocke, 'Geschichte', 'Europaisierung', 'Sprachen' und 'Materielle und geistige Kultur', mit insgesamt 33 Einzelbeitragen von international bekannten Spezialisten der jeweiligen (Sub-)Disziplinen. Das Handbuch ist ein effektiv zu bedienendes Nachschlagewerk zum Balkan, das fur die an zahlreichen Universitaten entstehenden Europastudien, insbesondere die Sudosteuropastudien, die notigen Grundinformationen interdisziplinar vermittelt und eine schnelle weitere Navigation ermoglicht. Zudem tragt es dazu bei, die immer noch bestehende Ambivalenz der mental map 'Balkan' in den Kopfen der Europaer zu problematisieren und dadurch an ihrer positiven Veranderung mitzuwirken.