Together but Apart: Balkan Historians, the Global South, and unesco’s History of Humanity, 1978–1989
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The article analyzes the involvement of Southeast European historians in unesco’s History of Humanity: Scientific and Cultural Development, the second attempt of the organization at drafting a world history. It is a case study of a successful epistemic internationalization of regional and national narratives from the Balkans on a global stage. It is argued that this story is premised on the activity of the International Association of Southeast European Studies (aiesee—created in 1963 with unesco sponsorship), which functioned as the preexistent international milieu of conceptual, institutional, and personnel alignments. However, regional academic cooperation was dependent on the political context in the Balkans since the end of the seventies. Individual regimes employed scholars as experts representing these countries in this unesco project. In addition, the analysis also emphasizes the similarities and cross-fertilizations between Global South and Southeast European historians’ self-affirmations in the context of shifting narratives about humanity, cultures, and civilizations within unesco. However, while the “Third World” wanted to shatter Eurocentrism as the South challenged the North, the Southeast wished to affirm its Europeanness by breaking the Western and Soviet perceived monopoly on Europe-talk. Balkan historians’ anti-hegemonic association with Global South peers targeted de-marginalization within the confines of Europe. The article underlines that a full account of local narratives and phenomena should be examined in the context of the intersecting stories of the Cold War, decolonization, and globalization.
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Archives [Unless specified, the documents are not comprised in folders with page numbers]
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X07.21.495. “Lina P. Tsaldaris to the Director-General, Athens, October 1962.”
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X07.21.496.5. “Visit of Dusan Duma, chief of the Albanian delegation at the 17th session of unesco’s General Conference, 13 October 1972.”
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X07.21.497.1. “Drago Kunc to Jean Knapp, 16 May 1977.”
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X07.21.497.1. “Léda Miléva to Amadou-Mahtar M’Bow, 29 June 1977.”
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X07.21.496.5. “Dhimiter Lamani’s visit, P.R. Albania’s ambassador to France, 12 April 1977.”
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X07.21.498. Lipatti, Valentin. “Aide-Mémoire, 17 May 1979.”
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X07.21.495. “Aide-Mémoire, Athens, 16 June 1982.”
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X07.21.560. “Pertev Subași to Ahmatar-Mahtar M’Bow, 6 August 1980.”
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schm2.1, 1–12. “Meeting of the Bureau on 4–5 January 1983/Meeting of the Commission from 6 to 8 January 1983—Final Report, Paris, 18 January 1983.”
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schm2.1, 1–150. “Commission Internationale, 2ème réunion, janvier 1983.”
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schm2.1, 1–181. “Commission international, Réunion septembre 1980.”
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schm2.11. Ki-Zerbo, Joseph. “Introductory Document,” Consultation des Scientifique et Historien Africains, Abidjan 7–10 Novembre 1984.
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schm2.11. Morazé, Charles. “L’histoire vue d’Istanbul,” Colloque International sur les relations entre l’empire Ottoman et les pays arabes et africains, octobre 1984.
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schm2.13 [1986], 1–25. Condurachi, Emil. “Rome et son Empire.”
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schm2.13 [n.a., the document is included in a folder dated 1986]. Condurachi, Emil. “Notes préliminaires pour un projet de plan. Volume iii.”
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schm2.13. İnalcık, Halil. “Report on Volume v, 16 April 1986”, Réunion des Comités de rédaction des volumes v et vi, Dakar 1985.
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schm2.14. “Discours de Iba Der Thiam aux travaux de la réunion du directoire du volume vii de l’Histoire de l’Humanité, Dakar, 22–26 janvier 1986.”
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schm2.13. “Réunion du volume vii, Paris, 9–10 Septembre 1985.”
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schm2.14. Dani, Ahmad. “Multidisciplinary Committee’s Comments for Volume vii, 18 August 1985.”
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schm2.19. Al-Ali, Saleh Ahmad. “Remarks on History of Mankind and the Place of the Arabs in It,” Commentaires préliminaires 1. ed., 1980–1982.
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schm2.19. Thapar, Romila. “General Comments on the History of Mankind, 20 November 1980,” Commentaires préliminaires 1. ed., 1980–1982.
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schm2.20. Christides, Vassilios. “Some Comments on the Sections Concerning Greek-Byzantine and Arabic Relations in History of Mankind, vol. iii, The Great Medieval Civilizations,” Commentaires préliminaires, Europe Occidentale, 1980–1982.
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schm2.20. İnalcık, Halil. “Preliminary report on the Ottoman Turks in the History of Mankind, New York and Evanston 1969, 11 May 1980,” Commentaires préliminaires, Europe Occidentale 1980–1982.
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schm2.20. Karayannopoulos, Yannis. “Remarques sur la partie de l’Histoire de l’Unesco concernant Byzance” Commentaires préliminaires, Europe Occidentale 1980–1982.
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schm2.20. “Kemal Karpat to Paulo Berrêdo Carneiro, 14 April 1980,” Commentaires préliminaires, Europe Occidentale: G-Z, 1980–1982.
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schm2.20. “Pertev Subași à P. Barredo Carneiro, 1 avril 1980”, Commentaires préliminaires, Europe Occidentale, 1980–1982.
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schm2.30. Aziz Kamel, Abdul. “Notes for Volume iv, 4 December 1983,” Correspondance Membres Commission Internationale.
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schm2.30. “Ch. Morazé à N. Todorov, 23 novembre 1983.”
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schm2.30. “Constantin Tsatsos to Pauolo Berrêdo Carneiro, Athens, 26 October 1981” and “Constantin Tsatsos to Amandou-Mahtar M’Bow, 2 November 1981,” Correspondance Membres Commission Internationale 1983.
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schm2.32. “Kemal Karpat to Ulrika von Haumeder, 20 May 1982,” Correspondence vol. ii 1982–83.
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schm2.32. “Michel Sakellariou to Ulrika von Haumeder, Athens, 20 October 1983,” Correspondence vol. ii 1982–83.
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schm2.33. clt/hcch/83/599, 1 November 1983.
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schm2.4, 1–131. “Réunion du Bureau 22–24 septembre 1981.”
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schm2.5, 1–82. “Réunion du Bureau 22–24 septembre 1981.”
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schm2.7, 1–8. “Rapport du Secrétaire Générale, 10 septembre 1984.”
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schm2.7, 1–138. “3ème Réunion du Bureau: Séance 1–4 janvier 1983.”
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schm2.8. “Listes des Comités Pluridisciplinaires.”
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schm2.9. “Groupes de travail constitués à la fin de l’année 1980.”
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schm2.9. “Réunion du groupe de travail sur l’histoire de l’Empire Ottoman et du Monde des Balkans, Athènes, 1–3 juin 1981,” Working-groups 1981–1982.
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schm2.9. Working-group on Latin America, “Proposals Concerning the Core-Volume, Caracas, July 1981,” Working-groups 1981–1982.
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The unesco General and Regional Histories. 2009. Paris: unesco.
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Condurachi, Em[il]. “Raport, 13 septembrie 1983,” [Report, September 13, 1983] mae-aiesee 2324-1983.
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“Irwin T. Sanders to E. Pouchpa Dass, 13 December 1977,” unesco 008A01/aiesee.
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“Jean d’Ormesson to Berrado Carneiro, 6 July 1979,” cipsh64.
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“Notă convorbire între tovarășul Nicolae Ceaușescu și directorul general al unesco, René Maheu, 29 noiembrie” [Note on the conversation between comrade Nicolae Ceaușescu and the Director-General of unesco, René Maheu, November 29], anic, fond cc al pcr—Secția Relații Externe, 224/1973, 1–13.
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“Réunion préliminaire pour la préparation d’une nouvelle édition de l’Histoire du Développement Scientifique et Culturel de l’Humanité (18–19 juillet 1978),” cipsh62, 1–6.
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La Commission de l’AIESEE pour l’histoire des idées Les Lumiéres et la formation de la conscience nationale chez les peuples du sud-est européen. 1970. Bucharest: aiesee.
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Taha-Hussein Moënis . 1972. “L’UNESCO et l’etude des culture du sud-est europeen.” Bulletin aiesee , no. 1: 39–47.
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Todorov Nikolai . 1969. “Les études balkanique en Bulgarie.” Bulletin aiesee , nos. 1–2: 63–72.
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Al-Bakhit M.A. , Bazin L. , Cissoko S.M. , and Kamel A.A. , eds. 2008. Histoire de l’humanité. Volume iv, 600–1492. Paris: UNESCO. [English edition published by Routledge in 1999]
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Together but Apart: Balkan Historians, the Global South, and unesco’s History of Humanity, 1978–1989
In: East Central EuropeSearch for other papers by Bogdan C. Iacob in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
The article analyzes the involvement of Southeast European historians in unesco’s History of Humanity: Scientific and Cultural Development, the second attempt of the organization at drafting a world history. It is a case study of a successful epistemic internationalization of regional and national narratives from the Balkans on a global stage. It is argued that this story is premised on the activity of the International Association of Southeast European Studies (aiesee—created in 1963 with unesco sponsorship), which functioned as the preexistent international milieu of conceptual, institutional, and personnel alignments. However, regional academic cooperation was dependent on the political context in the Balkans since the end of the seventies. Individual regimes employed scholars as experts representing these countries in this unesco project. In addition, the analysis also emphasizes the similarities and cross-fertilizations between Global South and Southeast European historians’ self-affirmations in the context of shifting narratives about humanity, cultures, and civilizations within unesco. However, while the “Third World” wanted to shatter Eurocentrism as the South challenged the North, the Southeast wished to affirm its Europeanness by breaking the Western and Soviet perceived monopoly on Europe-talk. Balkan historians’ anti-hegemonic association with Global South peers targeted de-marginalization within the confines of Europe. The article underlines that a full account of local narratives and phenomena should be examined in the context of the intersecting stories of the Cold War, decolonization, and globalization.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1030 | 264 | 31 |
| Full Text Views | 74 | 6 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 99 | 18 | 3 |
