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Slavic Identities: Peoples, Languages, and Religions

Slavic Identities: Peoples, Languages, and Religions. Laura A. Janda janda@unc.edu www.unc.edu/~lajanda. Overall Distribution of Slavic Peoples in Europe. You are what you speak. Language is closely tied with identity Political borders do not always correspond to linguistic borders

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Slavic Identities: Peoples, Languages, and Religions

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  1. Slavic Identities: Peoples, Languages, and Religions Laura A. Janda janda@unc.edu www.unc.edu/~lajanda

  2. Overall Distribution of Slavic Peoples in Europe

  3. You are what you speak • Language is closely tied with identity • Political borders do not always correspond to linguistic borders • Religious borders also play an important role • Language can both unify and divide peoples

  4. Can you name the Slavic languages?

  5. Can you name the Slavic languages? • North Slavic • Russian, Belorusian, Ukrainian • West Slavic • Polish, Czech, Slovak, Upper&Lower Sorbian • South Slavic • Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, Bulgarian • Note how former Soviet Union, Soviet Bloc, and former Yugoslavia divided up this territory

  6. Who are the Slavs’ neighbors? • Indo-European: • Speakers of German, Greek, Albanian, Romanian, Lithuanian, Latvian, and Italian, plus Romany • Non-Indo European: • Speakers of Hungarian, Estonian, Finnish, and Turkish, plus Caucasian and Central Asian languages

  7. The Cyrillic Alphabet • Actually the second alphabet of the Slavs • Invented in the tenth century • Modeled primarily after Greek capital letters • Associated with Orthodox (Byzantine) Christianity

  8. Western Christianity & Latin Alphabet: Poland Czech Republic Slovakia Slovenia Croatia Eastern Christianity & Cyrillic Alphabet: Russia Belarus Ukraine Serbia Macedonia Bulgaria The Alphabetic Divide

  9. Megali Idea • Most nations (not just Slavic ones) have some “memory” of a time when their borders were at their largest. • These nations see these remembered borders as vital to their identity and seek to regain them. • These remembered borders overlap and do not contain a homogeneous population, motivating “ethnic cleansing”.

  10. Poland • Primarily Catholic, previously had a significant Jewish minority (birthplace of Yiddish) • 1385 -- Polish union with Lithuania -- administrative language is Latin • 16th-17th centuries -- Polish used alongside Latin

  11. Poland, cont’d. • 1795 -- Poland partitioned among Russia, Prussia, and Austria • Poland ceased to exist for 123 years, during which time harsh policies established German & Russian as administrative languages • Intelligentsia & Catholic Church helped maintain Polish language & identity • Polish state reborn at end of WWI with minorities of Ukrainians, Ruthenians, Jews, Belarusians, Germans

  12. Poland, cont’d. • WWII Nazi occupation reduced minorities via extermination & population transfers • Ethnic groups in present-day Poland: Lemkos (Ruthenians), Roma, Kashubians (330,000 speakers, status is controversial)

  13. Slovakia • Historically part of Hungary • Used Czech as their literary language until mid-19th century • 1843 Stur’s grammar launches Slovak national movement. • After 1867, Austro-Hungarian Magyarization suppresses Slovak

  14. Slovakia, cont’d. • 1939 Slovakia yields to Nazi Germany • 1944 Restoration of Czechoslovakia • 1948 Communists come to power • 1960s Campaign against “bourgeois” (aka Slovak) nationalism & antireligious campaign targets Slovaks • Reforms after 1968 favored Slovaks • Since 1993: Independent Slovakia with Hungarian and Roma minorities, Slovak linguistic purism

  15. Czech lands • 9th century -- Mission of SS. Cyril & Methodius -- Czechs are the first Slavs to gain literacy • Political independence dates to 10th century, when the Czech lands were part of the Holy Roman Empire

  16. Czech lands, cont’d. • Charles IV 1346-1378 King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emporer founded Charles U. (Carolina!), the oldest university north of the Alps • 1415 Jan Hus is burned at the stake, ushering in the Reformation and Hussite wars • 1526, Ferdinand I, a Hapsburg, becomes King of Bohemia, and ultimately Austria and Hungary as well, ushering in 400 years of Hapsburg rule • 1618 Hapsburg repressions incite Prague defenestration, 30 year war

  17. Czech lands, cont’d. • Two centuries of decline and oppression, with German as the only official language • 1809 Josef Dobrovsky’s Czech grammar helps to launch Czech National Revival

  18. Czech lands, cont’d. • 1918 “The First Republic” and tensions between the 3M Germans and 7M Czechs in Bohemia • 1938 Munich • After WWII, Benes decrees forced most Germans out • 1948 Communists come to power • 1968 Prague Spring and August invasion • 1989 Velvet Revolution • 1993 Velvet Divorce

  19. Some Conclusions concerning Central Europe • Central Europe was dominated by others: Hapsburgs, Russian Empire, Prussia, Austro-Hungary • Enlightenment inspired educated classes to pursue nationalism • The rise of ethno-nationalism in Central Europe hampered a process of assimilation of different ethnic groups into bigger national entities

  20. Some Conclusions concerning Central Europe, cont’d. • After WWI new states emerged based on language and ethnicity • After WWII communists came to power • The fall of communist regimes created a vacuum filled by ethno-nationalism • Language has been extremely important for identity and nationhood • Central Europe has been homogenized to maximize linguistic and national identity through genocide, population exchanges, etc.

  21. Slavs in the Balkans • Bulgaria, Macedonia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia, Slovenia • Balkan states succumbed to dictatorships in inter-war period • Balkan states were reconstructed by communists after WWII

  22. The Former Serbo-Croatian • Goes by many names, including “bezimeni jezik” • Written with two alphabets • Used for worship in three major religions • Interlaced with several other languages (Hungarian, Romany, and dialects related to Romanian)

  23. Federal Republic of Yugoslavia(Serbia-Montenegro) • Includes Kosovo, which is 90% Albanian • Serb nationalism suppressed under Tito. • Milosevic cast Albanians as oppressors in late 1980s (600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo Polje), and attempted to have them removed. • Montenegrans try to assert separate language & identity.

  24. Bosnia-Hercegovina • Contains Muslims, Orthodox, and Catholics • 1991 census: 44% Muslim, 32% Serb, 17% Croat, 7% Yugoslav • 1992 war destroyed ethnic fabric of Bosnia

  25. Croatia • Unrest makes figures on ethnic composition unreliable • Conflicts with Serbs, many of whom have fled • State is now relatively homogeneous

  26. Slovenia • Ethnically & politically the most stable state in the Balkans • 1.7 M: • 88% Slovene • 2% Serb • 3% Croat • 1% Muslim • 0.6% Yugoslav

  27. Bulgaria • 8.5 M people • 85% ethnic Bulgarian • 9% Turkish • 300,000 Roma • 14,000 Armenian • 1984 attempt to forcibly “Bulgarize” the Turks led to international criticism • Tension with Macedonia

  28. Macedonia(FYROM) • 1912 Annexed by Serbia • Macedonian Republic established 1946 • 2M, over 1/4 of these are Albanian

  29. Ideologies of Nationalism in the Balkans • Post-Communist nationalisms have aimed for greater national homogeneity, often via ethnic cleansing • Magnification of linguistic differences for political purposes • Anti-democratic, narrow constructions of identity privilege “ethnicity” over region, religion, human rights, shared histories, and even shared languages.

  30. Slavs in the Former Soviet Union • Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine • Russia is the largest sovereign state on earth, and contains great linguistic and ethnic diversity • All 3 had significant Jewish minorities drastically reduced by pogroms, massacres, and emigration

  31. Russia • 989 Kievan Rus converted to Christianity • Capital moved to Moscow undr Ivan the Terrible • 1453 Russia became the protector of Orthodoxy (“Third Rome”) after Fall of Constantinople.

  32. Russia, cont’d. • 17th-19th centuries -- vast expansion to incorporate Siberia, Belarus, Ukraine, part of Poland, and Baltics • Catherine the Great through Romanov dynasty -- consistent policy of enforced Russification -- Russian becomes lingua franca of the area • Russian chauvinism continued in Soviet period, and most non-Russian languages suffered serious decline

  33. Belarus • Belarusian language codified 1906-14 • 78% Belarusian, 13% Russian • But Belarus was intensively Russified, and most Belarusians are more comfortable with Russian than with Belarusian

  34. Ukraine • Ukrainian language codified 19th C • 73% Ukrainian, 22% Russian • Complex situation, since many dialects are very close to Russian, many people are bilingual, and there are also close ties to Poland

  35. Former Soviet Union: Conclusions • Russia heavily dominates the area • Other identities are weakly felt or suppressed • Economic decline presents a potential problem that could be exploited by nationalists

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