How the Balkans Came to be: A Look from the Inside

In recent decades, the Balkan region has re-entered the academic and public discourse. “Backward”, “violent”, and “torn”—the image of the Balkans in the Western world is still characterized by prejudices, stereo­types, and stigmas. In the Oskar Halecki lecture, keynote speaker and South­eastern Europe expert Diana Mishkova takes upthese ideas, that are partly centuries old, and reverses the perspective by looking at the greater Balkan region from the inside out. How do the Balkans see themselves? And what significance has the (Western) external view here?