The Laboratory of Folklore and Social Anthropology at Democritus University of Thrace (Greece) and the Balkan History Association (Romania) are preparing a volume dedicated to Balkans, history, geopolitics, language, culture, and society. The volume, entitled “Material culture and everyday politics in the Balkans (19^th-21^st century)” aims at an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach to the cultural past and present of the Balkans from the perspective of material culture, from the 19th to the beginning of the 21st century, and its contribution to the construction of real or symbolic identities of Balkan societies. Special emphasis will be given on exploring the various ways that objects are connected to people and participate in the configuration of social relations, values, identities, and otherness in the wider Balkan region.

The volume will be published by Peter Lang (Series “South-East European History”). Authors will be folklorists, social and cultural anthropologists, historians, sociologists, linguists, and scholars of religion, of art, and of museum studies. All these experts are invited to submit their paper proposals with special emphasis on material culture, as manifested in fashion, food, architecture, theater/cinema, religion, folk arts (weaving, embroidery, woodcarving, etc.), technical practices and attitudes, as well as its consumption as a museum and tourist product.

Submission procedure

Please submit your proposal, including the title of your manuscript, an abstract (up to 300 words), and an author biography (up to 100 words) to all editors. The abstracts should include the research question and purpose, the approach and main ideas, and results. No figures, tables, footnotes, or endnotes should be included in the abstract. Proposals should be sent to Nantia Macha at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Deadlines
November 10, 2021: Submission of proposals
December 15, 2021: Notification of accepted proposals
March 15, 2022: Receipt of final chapters for peer-review
April 30, 2022: Revised chapters re-submitted to editors
June 30, 2022: Approved chapters submitted for publishing

Editors
Manolis G. Varvounis (School of Classics and Humanities, Democritus University of Thrace), This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Nantia Macha (Department of History and Ethnology, Democritus University of Thrace), This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Dorina Onica (“Bogdan Petriceicu-Hasdeu” Institute of Romanian Philology, Chișinău), This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tudor Dinu (University of Bucharest), This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Gordana Blagojević (Institute of Ethnography, Belgrade, SASA), This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Andrew Farrington (Department of History and Ethnology, Democritus University of Thrace), This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.