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27th May 2015


Seminar of General and Comparative History cordially invites to the lecture:


Sofiya Zahova, PhD

(Bulgarian Academy of Sciences)

 

Identity and Language Policies in Montenegro

 

27. 5. 2015, 17:00, room 203, (Faculty of Arts, main building)

 

Abstract of the lecture:

Considering the theory of ‘language nationalism’ (B. Anderson) in the context of the Balkans, where language is regarded as ‘flag of the nations’ (V. Friedman), the lecture suggests two aspects of the language issue in Montenegro. The first views the importance of the Montenegrin language in the context of state- and-nation-building. The second aspect refers to the issue of language and minority policies in a state that does not have an actual majority.

The lecture provides an overview of the Montenegrin state policies in the field of identity and language prior and after 2006 independence. It continues with overview of the language policies related to Montenegrin language standardization and its introduction in the state and educational institutions, but also with analysis of language policies impact on citizens’ identities. Finally, the political debates on the status of the Serbian and Montenegrin language in the system of primary education and the issue on the status of Serbs as a minority in Montenegro are examined.

 

Key words: Montenegro, state-building, minority policies, language policies, Serbian language, Montenegrin language.

 

Sofiya Zahova is assistant professor and post-doctoral researcher at the Balkan Ethnology Department, Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences). Her main research interests are in the field of Ethnicity, South East European Studies, Roma/Gypsies, minorities, nation-building policies in the Balkans and former Yugoslavia. She is author of the books Dynamics of Identity in Montenegro (in Bulgarian) and History of Romani Literature in Europe (in English) and co-editor of the volume Ethnography of Migrations. The Bulgarians in the Mediterranean (in Bulgarian).