3^rd InASEA Conference

"Urban Life and Culture in Southeast Europe"

May 26-29, 2005
Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

Abstracts of conference papers
as pdf file


A selection of the papers, presented to the conference, has been published in Ethnologia Balkanica, vol. 9. Further papers will be published in vols. 10 and 11.


Call for Papers

Aim of the conference
Urbanization in modern times has been one of the salient features characterizing social change in Southeast Europe, especially during the post-World War II socialist period, and producing obvious novelties in the post-socialist period. However, despite the significance of cities and towns, anthropology and related disciplines have so far displayed only scant interest in the study of urban lives and cultures in Southeast Europe. Structures, dynamics and contingencies of contemporary urban milieus in Southeast Europe still await thorough investigation, and have yet to be brought into a comparative perspective with urban communities in other parts of the world.
The 3rd InASEA Conference therefore intends to initiate scientific debate on the fundamental questions related to anthropological investigation of contemporary cities in Southeast Europe. The aim is to determine what is "urban" in phenomena and processes taking place a city vis-à- vis the countryside as well as how "urbaneness" varies in cities differing in history, size, demography, economy and culture.
The organizers invite papers that bring together different approaches to urban studies, such as those of anthropology, ethnology, ethnography, history, sociology and urban planning. The papers will discuss the phenomena, processes and narratives that define urban life and culture in Southeast Europe, and thus open new areas for basic and applied research.
The intention of the organizers is to enable the exchange of experience in exploring cities and towns in Southeast Europe between scholars from the region and colleagues from other parts of the world and to facilitate the networking between scholars within the region, thus, to stimulate a more coordinated exchange of information about ongoing scientific and educational projects.

Themes

• Urbanization as a historical process in Southeast Europe: from nation-building to post- socialism
• City vs. village: ideological aspects of urbanization in the Balkans
• Migration to the city and adaptation to urban life
• Urban-rural ties
• Representations of the city in science, literature and art
• Exploring the city: methodologies and techniques
• Time in urban life
• Urban space and place: constructions, uses, divisions, behaviours, memories and identifications
• Family, kinship and gender relations in the city
• Urban ethnicity and religion
• Social exclusions and inclusions in urban society
• Urban class, culture and identity
• Pop culture, subculture and corporate culture
• Commodities and consumption in the city
• Feelings, risks and security in cities
• Anthropologist and the future of cities in Southeast Europe

Contacts
More information about the Conference can be obtained from the Chairman of the Organizing Committee

Dr. Vesna Vucinic
Department of Ethnology and Anthropology
School of Philosophy, University of Belgrade
Cika Ljubina 18-20, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro
E-mail: vvucinic@f.bg.ac.yu
phone: +381-11-3206-265, fax: +381-11-639-356

or from the Chairman of the Program Committee

Dr. Ulf Brunnbauer
Institute of East European Studies
Free University of Berlin
Garystrasse 55, 14195 Berlin, Germany
E-mail: ulf@zedat.fu-berlin.de
phone: +49-30-838-52028, fax: +49-30-838-54036