Trends and society

Bosnia and Herzegovina's dirty diplomas

31/08/2017 -  Azra Nuhefendić

Rome was not built in a day, but in Bosnia and Herzegovina a day is enough to get a degree or master's diploma, as long as you pay. The crumbling of the higher education system further compromises the future of the country

Higher education is reinforcing Kosovo's ethnic divide

15/08/2017 -  Ervjola Selenica*

Despite years of international efforts aimed at integration, the system of higher education in Kosovo continues to reflect and replicate the country’s deep ethnic divisions

Ukraine, the amber republic

14/08/2017 -  Oleksiy Bondarenko

Some of the world's largest amber deposits are located on Ukrainian territory. Extraction is in the hands of criminal organisations, and institutions are hesitant or connivant – meanwhile, the environment is devastated

Macedonia, the sun sets on Skopje 2014

08/08/2017 -  Giovanni Vale

Skopje 2014 was the trademark project of former PM Gruevski, aimed at transforming the capital and celebrating nationalism. With the change of government, the art of colourful protest has risen to power and tries to de-aestheticise the old regime

Sofia, a growing tourist destination

28/07/2017 -  Francesco Martino Sofia

Sofia is enjoying a tourism boom, especially thanks to the ever-increasing number of low-cost flights. The economy benefits from it, but a long-term sustainable tourism strategy is still missing

Georgia’s Secret Radio Station: Jamming for the USSR

24/07/2017 -  Thoma Sukhashvili

Transmitter Station Number 5 was one of many secret, radio-jamming facilities throughout the USSR. Today, nearly 26 years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, its past employees, still living in their original residences, are trapped in a time warp

"Each time, it hurts more". Srebrenica, 22 years later

14/07/2017 -  Alfredo Sasso

A "war for truth" is being fought today in Bosnia and Herzegovina – a clash based on ethnic competition, with words and stories about the past as the main weapons

The political awakening of Croatia's islands

27/06/2017 -  Giovanni Vale

The islanders of Croatia want to be protagonists of their future, and their voices have arrived to Zagreb. A review

A New Town in Socialist Yugoslavia in comparative perspective

25/04/2017

Socialist towns in Yugoslavia: Ana Kladnik discusses with Andreas Guidi the case of Velenje in Slovenia

The suspended time of Belgrade's kafanas

09/05/2017 -  Giovanni Vale Belgrado

Places suspended in time, far from the bustle of the capital and the high tech kitchens: these are the Belgrade kafana which tell the story of a special soul

Balkan migrants in Turkey: Naturalization, identifications, and associations

03/03/2017

In the new episode of the podcast The Southeast passage, Elif Becan discusses the integration of Muslim migrants from the Balkans into the Turkish Republic during the interwar period

Hidden Cyprus

17/03/2017 -  Giovanni Vale Nicosia

In the shadow of the ever present division of Cyprus, the Greek zone and the Turkish one hide hybrid realities which timidly try pass the division's rigid schemes

Stalin, the big bang and quantum physics

02/02/2017 -  Piergiorgio Pescali

Scientific research in Soviet times had to face limitations imposed by the regime. The official ideology, in particular, could not tolerate the tenets of quantum physics

Omer Karabeg: The Bridge

30/12/2016 -  Luka Zanoni

For over 20 years, Omer Karabeg has hosted a programme titled Most (Bridge). The show deals with thorny, uncomfortable topics, seeking to create a dialogue between people of different viewpoints

The curves of the Georgian alphabet seduce UNESCO

09/01/2017 -  Monica Ellena Tbilisi

After evolving in parallel for centuries, thanks to UNESCO, the three Georgian alphabets became intangible cultural heritage of humanity. A living and charming heritage, but one to be protected

Kosovo's public discourse is toxic

13/12/2016 -  Mikra Krasniqi*

In Kosovo portals, websites, and blogs, that are supposedly there to inform society, have turned into a toxic arena for personal feuds, while it's difficult to find a minimum of critical analysis on any given topic

Sarajevo-Amsterdam: looking for freedom

15/12/2016 -  Azra Nuhefendić

Vondelpark, a cult attraction for hippies from all over Europe. Azra went there too, along with Snježana, Cvele, Paja and Gorki who spent a summer there in the 70

Serbia: the Babylonian spirits of Viminacium

07/10/2016 -  Dragan Janjić Belgrade

A few miles from Požarevac, in the archaeological site of Viminacium, an archaeologist known as the “Serbian Indiana Jones” has made some surprising discovers

Slow Food Romania: the Saxons and the Bazna pig

20/09/2016 -  Francesco Martino Bazna

The Bazna pig was born and bred in the late 19th-century Transylvania. Today, after the Saxon community that had selected it emigrated, the pig is likely to disappear as well

Bosnia Herzegovina according to Eldin

13/09/2016 -  Massimo Moratti

As the electoral campaign unfolds in Bosnia Herzegovina, so does nationalist rhetoric, reviving the idea of conflict. But what is war? In a post on Facebook, Eldin Kurbašić explains it

Yugoslavia: trip to Turkey

19/08/2016 -  Azra Nuhefendić

When your father takes you to Istanbul but you really have no wish to go because you're dreaming of Paris. A trip to Turkey in the early 70s

The countries of former Yugoslavia at Rio 2016

04/08/2016 -  Natalia Kawana

Yugoslavia participated in many Summer Olympics, winning a record of 18 medals in 1984. Now its successor states all have hopes for medals, in spite of their young history of participating in the event as independent states

The South Caucasus at Rio Olympic Games

02/08/2016 -  Natalia Kawana

Things seem to be going well for Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia at the 2016 Summer Olympics – scheduled to start on 5 August, in Rio de Janeiro. At least when it comes to the overall numbers of participating athletes

Ukraine: healthcare and informal payments

19/07/2016 -  Abel PoleseTetiana Stepurko

The healthcare sector in Ukraine is in crisis: low quality, stagnant reforms and dwindling budgets. Is it the result of a widespread habit to pay doctors under the table?

Exorcism in Moldova

29/04/2016 -  Francesco Brusa

Despite the local ecclesiastical institutions' disapproval, in the Monastery of Saharna, a hundred kilometres from the Moldovan capital Chişinau, mass exorcism rites are taking place

Hippy Yugoslavia

09/02/2016 -  Azra Nuhefendić

In the Seventies, a group of young hipsters leave Yugoslavia looking for the Buddhist monk Čedomil Veljačič, ending up in Morocco

Albania, the pride of the fairies

24/12/2015 -  Francesco Martino Fishta

After many years in Italy, the Prenga brothers have returned to Albania to put their new ideas for the restaurant business into practice. Fundamental to their practice are pride in their traditions, love for the land and the use of local produce

The Kurdish Storytellers

07/10/2015 -  Dimitri Bettoni

The Dengbêj represent the collective memory of the Kurdish people, having resisted the Turkish government attempts to assimilate them

Croatia: the fascist legacy

03/09/2015 -  Sven Milekić Zagreb

An initiative advocating the use of the Ustaša salute ‘Ready for the homeland’ in the Croatian army has caused shock in the local public, indicating the persistence of a fascist legacy in Croatia

Slow Food Macedonia, fishing biodiversity

06/08/2015 -  Francesco Martino Stenje

Lake Prespa, on the border between Macedonia, Albania and Greece preserves unique biodiversity and culinary traditions. Like that of the dried fish "cironki", whose origins are lost in time