MODERN CITY IN THE BALKANS: DIRECTIONS AND PERSPECTIVES OF RESEARCH

Dobrinka Parusheva
University of Plovdiv Paisii Hilendarski,
Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology,
(Bulgarian Academy of Sciences)
Bulgaria

Abstract: This text seeks to present an overview of the main directions in the research on modern city in the Balkans, from mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, which has been carried out during the last three to four decades. The aim is to offer a possible typology of this research and, in addition, to suggest a few conceivable perspectives of future investigations in some areas of urban life, which have not been substantially covered by now.

Keywords: Modern City, The Balkans, Urban Studies, Historiography

IN THE MIRROR OF SATIRE: THE END OF WORLD WAR I IN BULGARIAN CARICATURES

Dobrinka Parusheva
University of Plovdiv
Institut of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology
(Bulgarian Academy of Sciences)

Abstract: This text seeks to present the way in which Bulgarian caricaturists depicted the aftermath of World War I in their work. The attention is focused primarily on the image of the neighbouring Other. Does war matter and, more precisely, what is the relationship between war (and post-war time) and the attitude to the neighbouring nations of Bulgaria, and how this relationship influences the dynamics of the caricature images in the Bulgarian humoristic press? These are the questions to which the author offers an answer. As a basis of discussion a corpus of about 80 caricatures published in the newspaper Българан (Bălgaran) is used.

Keywords: Сaricature, Image of the Other, WW I, Aftermath of WW I, Bulgaria, the Balkans

COPING WITH HOUSING CRISIS: POST-WORLD WARS’ EXPERIENCE IN BULGARIA

Dobrinka Parusheva,
University of Plovdiv Paisii Hilendarski,
Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology

Abstract: In this article the issue of housing crisis in Bulgaria in the aftermath of the two World Wars is addressed comparatively. The author looks at the state’s activities in the field of housing and people’s responses to their failure to provide enough dwellings. The idea about the presence of more similarities than differences between the developments during both periods is launched and discussed, by emphasising the role of the interplay between tradition and modernization.

Keywords: Housing in Bulgaria, State Care, State Control, Sovietization, Appropriation of Tradition