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Welcome to the Centre for the Study of the Balkans

Goldsmiths increasingly attracts scholars from various disciplinary backgrounds - particularly those based in the departments of History, Politics, Anthropology and Sociology - with research interests in the Balkans. Centre for the Study of the Balkans brings together this expertise and provides platform for inter-departmental collaboration and interdisciplinary dialogue, within Goldsmiths and between the Centre and the College and other academic institutions, in the UK and abroad. In line with the College mission, the Centre seeks to engage in activities that pursue intellectual curiosity and encourage creative and radical thinking with the aim of achieving the highest standards of research relevant to the study of the Balkans.

The Balkans is a peninsula in south-eastern Europe which includes, broadly speaking, former Yugoslavia, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Turkey, but the region cannot be understood by geography alone. Complex historical and cultural legacies - such as those of the Byzantine, Ottoman and Habsburg imperial rules - and interaction of major religions - Eastern Orthodoxy, Sunni Islam and Roman Catholicism - have created a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-confessional mosaic that survives despite numerous ethnic and religious conflicts that have shaped the region, together with as numerous examples of coexistence and interaction. The Balkans provides a fertile ground for further exploration of issues relevant to research carried out across Goldsmiths, such as the study of past and present cultures, societies and identities, nationalism, ethnic conflict, transitional justice, multiculturalism, relationship between faiths - issues that are also relevant for an understanding of today’s world and challenges it is facing.

News and events


Symposium on South East Europe

Call for papers


Maria Todorova at Goldsmiths: Tuesday 24 November

Centre for the Study of the Balkans officially inaugurated. Find out more


Literary Transitions in Post-War Yugoslavia: A Serbian writer's perspective.

Igor Marojevic in conversation with Dejan Djokic and Andrea Pisac. Find out more


Honorary Doctor of Literature Award

Professor Mark Mazower, member of the External Advisory Board of the Centre for the Study of the Balkans, has been awarded an Honorary Doctor of Literature (DLit) degree by Goldsmiths, University of London.


Dr Sari Wastell has been awarded 1,42 million Euros by European Research Council for a 4-year research project 'Bosnian Bones, Spanish Ghosts - Transitional Justice and the Legal Shaping of Memory after Two Modern Conflicts'.

The project starts in September 2009. Find out more about the project.


PhD student and Research Assistant post for major ERC project: 'Bosnian Bones, Spanish Ghosts - Transitional Justice and the Legal Shaping of Memory after Two Modern Conflicts'

The Department of Anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London, is looking to recruit a Research Assistant who will also pursue a PhD on related research for a major ERC project, 'Bosnian Bones, Spanish Ghosts - 'Transitional Justice and the Legal Shaping of Memory after Two Modern Conflicts', led by Principal Investigator, Dr Sari Wastell. Find out more about this post.


Seminar programme 2009/10

Rethinking Modern Europe IHR seminar

New! The Centre for the Study of the Balkans now has its own Facebook Group.

Director of the Centre is Dr Dejan Djokic, Department of History.