Identity and Conflict in the Balkan

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Identity and Conflict in the Balkan

• Thirteenth Week

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Announcements

• In the news

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Choose paper topic

• Check out website
• Review your English comp guides

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Kaplan Bulgaria (12-14)
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Bulgaria (capitalSofia)
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Bulgaria Today

• Almost 8 million
• Orthodoxy
• Sofia capital
• EU by 2007

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New Century

• President Parvanov
• Prime Minister Simeon (former King Simeon II)

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Bulgaria in the 90s

• Republic of Bulgaria, 1990
• New constitution, National Assembly 1991

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Heads of State Clinton and Stojanov
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Post-War Bulgaria

• Occupied by USSR 1944 Socialist Peoples
  Republic 1946
• Georgi Dimitrov
• Georgi Markov
• Todor Zhivkov

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Todor Zhivkov Years, 1911-98

• In power 1954-89
• Allegiance to Soviet Union (even merger)

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Georgi Markov, 1929-78

• Dissident, author
• Assassinated in London
• Working for Radio Free Europe

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Bulgaria during WWII

• Alliance with Germany, WWI and WWII

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Interwar Bulgaria
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Bulgaria and WWI
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The Balkan Wars, 1912-13

• Turks out Balkan League victorious
• Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece
• Bulgaria loses territory
• Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Greece

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Post-Liberation Bulgaria, 1878-
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Bulgaria under the Ottomans, 1396-1878

• Occupied by Turks since 14th 1396-1878
• Full independence 1908 kingdom 1908-46

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Early History

• Turkic tribe, joined Slavs after crossing Danube
• 7th century
• Constant wars with Byzantine Empire

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People

• Boris I, Simeon
• Vasil Levski
• Mehmet Ali Agca
• Petar Stojanov

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Vasil Levski 1837-73
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Kaplans Places

• Grand Hotel Bulgaria
• Alexander Nevski Memorial Church
• Batak
• Rila Monastery

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Grand Hotel
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Nevski Memorial Church
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Batak
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Rila Monastery
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Nevski Square, 1999
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Kaplan

• Guillermo decades of friendship
• Changes over decades
• Problems
• Living conditions
• Communist heritage
• Turkish relations
• Capitalism

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Stalinism in Bulgaria Guillermos Dilemma
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Background of Director

• One of new directors of 60s
• One of few to still be making films
• Philosophy, metaphor, symbol difficult films
• Most rooted in Greek history 1930s-70s
• Voyage to Cythera 1984 Beekeeper 1986 Landscape
  in the Mist 1988 Suspended Step of the Stork 1991

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Background of Film
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Ulysses Gaze 1996

• Thematic source Homers Odyssey
• Quest of A through the Balkans
• Ambitious, thoughtful,
• Excellent sound track music by Eleni Karaindrou

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Greece 20th Century
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Albania 20th Century
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The Quest (So Far)

• Thessaloniki (Salonica)
• Florina
• Korytsa Korçë
• Monastir - Bitola

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A

• Name suggests first (first experiences, first
  gazes, innocence)
• Greek-American director, returning to his
  homeland
• Journey to find missing undeveloped reels of film
• Sees same woman in variety of roles (Maia
  Morgenstern)
• Mob scenes threatening, on brink of violence
  (something is wrong)

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Greece

• History of Film
• Manakia brothers pioneers
• Film in the Balkan
• First scene from their work
• Weavers in Avdella, a Greek village, 1905

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The Brothers

• Miltiades and Yannakis Manakia
• Reenactment of one of them dying on the dock
• Ethnic identity not a simple matter

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Brothers in Bitola
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Devices, strategies

• Time shifting dock scene, past to present
• Sudden shift in place Florina (northern Greece)
• Controversial film showing
• Dialogues, monologues sound like poetry
• They often are T.S. Eliot (In my end is my
  beginning)

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On to Albania

• Total anarchy
• Old woman at the Albanian border references to
  Civil War (and sister)
• Emigrants, poor refugees of the 1990s
• Wasteland
• Korçë (Korytsa)
• Listen for Muslim prayer in background

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On to Macedonia

• Speech by taxi driver on dying Greece
• Tossing the food frustration
• Skopje FYRM
• Friendship again watch for the sincere human
  attachments

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Names and Identities

• Manakia, Manakis, Manaki
• Korçë - Korytsa
• Bitola Monastiri

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Brothers identity

• Born in Avdela, near Grevena, Greece
• Village was Vlach (Vlah)
• Moved to Bitola in 1905
• Opened theater in Bitola in 1921
• Yannakis died in Thessaloniki in 1954
• Miltonides died in Bitola in 1964
• Bitola large Vlach population

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Who are the Vlachs?
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Vlachs

• Originally, all Romanian speaking
• Now, primarily south of Danube

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Aromanians

• Mostly E Orthodox
• Language close to Romanian
• Minorities in other countries

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Drakulics Novel S

• What is the historical basis for the work?
• Did it offer any explanations? Motives?
• What are the key events in Ss experiences? Her
  main challenges?
• What are Ss key relationships?
• What are the moral questions raised? Are they
  resolved?

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What are the novels literary qualities?

• Genre
• Point of view
• Structure

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Roma (Gypsies)

• Who they are
• Where they come from
• Language
• History
• Culture

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Romantic Vision
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More Critical Visions
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Portrait England
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Nazis and Roma