The Balkans: Mission Possible

IWM Lectures in Human Sciences

No, it is not a mistake. The titles of this year's IWM Lectures in Human Sciences allude to Mission Impossible, the Tom Cruise film series. While it is impossible to perform his physical stunts, the tricky mountainous terrain of the Balkans and their trickier history offer enough vertigo. Still, there is nothing comparable to looking down from a mountain peak in the Balkans. But Gadamer is there, with his defense of humanities, with his thoughts on tradition, prejudice, experience, dialogue, negotiation, reciprocity, situatedness, and the fusion of horizons. In three consecutive lectures, Maria Todorova will attempt to take stock of her own shifting horizons as she has both experienced and contemplated the Balkans over the course of her life.

Maria Todorova is a Bulgarian historian specializing in the Balkans. She publishes extensively on Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and Communism. Imagining the Balkans (1997) is her most influential book. Todorova is Edward William & Jane Marr Gutgsell Endowed Professor Emerita at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Currently, she is Guest of the Institute at the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM Vienna).

I. Tracing the Balkans or Mission Possible: Fallout
Wednesday, 16 October 2024, 18:00 CEST, Aula am Campus, Hof 1.11 (Universität Wien), Spitalgasse 2, 1090 Wien

II. Measuring the Balkans or Mission Possible: Dead Reckoning
Wednesday, 23 October 2024, 18:00 CEST, Aula am Campus, Hof 1.11 (Universität Wien), Spitalgasse 2, 1090 Wien

III. Framing Balkan Biographies or Mission Possible: Rogue Nation
Friday, 25 October 2024, 18:00 CEST, Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen (IWM Vienna), Spittelauer Lände 3, 1090 Wien

Registration is necessary.

In cooperation with:

Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie der Universität Wien

Institut für Politikwissenschaft der Universität Wien

Research Center for the History of Transformations (RECET)