The Mediterranean Seen form the Balkan Perspective: Greek, Roman and Byzantine Antiquity and their Adaptations to Slavic Cultures between the 18th and the 21th centuries

PhD Advisor: Prof. Jolanta Sujecka

The adaptation and assimilation of Ancient culture and in particular of the legacy of Mediterranean humanism to Slavic and Christian cultures of the Balkans has been conducted through different channels, such as: Byzantine culture, the work of the Franciscan order in Ottoman Bosnia, as well as by a tradition of literary grotesque (Luan Starova). The documentary basis of this research field is composed of the 18th- and 19th-centuries “histories” written by polymaths, of the 19th-century pseudo-historical syntheses, and of literary texts specific to the Slavia Orthodoxa culture in the Balkans. As doctoral student you will be invited to approach this rich material in its transnational and regional perspective. While studying how Ancient Mediterranean humanism was assimilated into Slavic Balkan cultures, you will consider the instances when this diversified cultural heritage was divided along the lines of national frontiers in the Balkans. Moreover, this inquiry will give you the opportunity to improve your knowledge of the Macedonian language and of the Church Slavonic Language.

If you choose this field of doctoral research you will complete your fellowships abroad at the following Partner Institution:

The Department of General and Comparative Literature, Faculty of Philology “Blaže Koneski” at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje;
Macedonian Academy of Science and Art, MANU
The Department’s comparative profile allows researching both the historic networks within the Balkan Orthodox world, as well as the genetic and typological contacts between Slavia Orthodoxa and Slavia Romana beyond the Balkans. The Department’s association with the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MANU) gives access to several rich collections of documents held in the Archives and in the Library of the Academy. Of primary importance is the Oriental Collection composed of documents from the Ottoman period, and especially the unique collection of late-Ottoman periodicals published in the Balkans at the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th centuries. You will work under the supervision of Prof. Kata Kulavkova. For more information, see:
For more information, see:
http://www.manu.edu.mk/
http://www.ukim.edu.mk/en_index.php