Summer School in Holocaust Studies, Ohrid, 26 September-3 October 2011

Institute for Social and Humanities Research “Euro-Balkan”, Skopje, Republic of
Macedonia

announces

SUMMER SCHOOL IN HOLOCAUST STUDIES

"The Diverse Survival Strategies of Jewish and Roma Communities in Macedonia:
From Resistance to Memorialization"
-International Ohrid Summer University 2011-

With the support of

Task force for international cooperation on Holocaust education, remembrance and
research (ITF)
September 26th - October 3rd 2011, Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia

The central interest of the School is focused on opening up the discussion about
the memorialisation of the Holocaust experience in Macedonia, and in particular
focusing for the first time on Roma people as victims of genocidal violence, by
taking the Holocaust as an important factor in the formation of Macedonia’s
historic and socio-cultural past. The presence of the Jewish narrative in
Macedonia will be compared to the scarce but important data on Roma people among
other minority groups - victims of the Holocaust (homosexuals, disabled people,
etc.). By promoting the memorialisation of Jewish and Roma experiences in a
comparative perspective from the Macedonian context and their “strategies of
survival”, in this Summer School we take as a starting point an attempt to
further thematise and raise awareness of the systemic violence of the Holocaust
through inter-disciplinary academic discussion.
Namely, does the Holocaust create a so-called “place of absence”? To what extent
does the political affect of the unanswered “concept of the Holocaust” represent
“the chronotope of the silence”, which in turn hinders the continuous
articulation of the past at the given historic moment, by marking the then
historical presence as a paradigmatic vacuum-space of the continuity of the
spiritual and material biography and autobiography of the Holocaust narrative
for the future? How much and in what ways does such a historic fact allow for
the reconstruction of the past in the present day? Does political terror
signify a rupture in the functionality of the sacral and material aspects of
history, within the framework of one diachronic vertical, written not only by
the metaphor of terror, violence, vanishing, and forgetting, but also forever
sealed by the colonial aspect of death?
The discursive critical approach to Holocaust narratives maintains
multidisciplinary nature relating to social sciences and humanities and arts. On
the other hand, such a multidimensional approach to Holocaust discourse expands
this School’s primary filed of interest to affirm today’s serious methodological
need for the techniques of using Holocaust studies as to formulate the cultural
and historical picture in educational process about and of Macedonia and the
experience of the Holocaust in a broader geographical framework on the Balkans
and East and Central Europe.
The Summer School is integral part of Ohrid Summer University (OSU) which is an
academic program for young faculty, PhD candidates, postgraduates, researchers
and professionals, offering intensive, problem-oriented and research-based
courses from the domains of social sciences and humanities. OSU was founded in
1998 and has functioned continuously since then, as one of the core programs of
the “Euro-Balkan” Institute, involving a significant number of both junior and
senior members of academic communities from various countries all over the
world. To date “Euro-Balkan” Institute, trough its OSU program, has organized
more than 30 summer schools from various areas with over 500 participants,
involving over 100 proffessors. During the 12 years-long period of its
existence, OSU has engaged itself in: adequate and effective training of the
academic staff, demonstration of successful linkage of state-of-the-art
scholarship and effective and innovative teaching, promotion of academic
excellence and ability to facilitate creation and sustenance of active networks
of academics, as well as collaborative advancement of learning in certain
disciplines within the international context.
Eligibility:
* Participant must be MA or PhD students interested in exploring the issues of
Holocaust studies (Jewish and Roma genocide), cultural studies, history,
literature, folklore, art (not older than 36 years of age);
* Participant must submit an abstract for a presentation in one of the summer
school’s workshops topics (which will be announced with the detailed programme
of the School) coherent with the School’s main topic;
* Participants with priority will be those from from Macedonia or other
South-Eastern Europe countries, however, participants from other European
countries are also invited to apply.

Number of participants: 14
Working language of the Summer School will be English.
Confirmed lecturers: Prof. Sofija Grandakovska (“Euro-Balkan” Institute,
Skopje), Prof. Michael Stewart (University College of London, UK), Prof. Krinka
Vidaković-Petrov (Institute of Literature and Arts, Belgrade), Prof. Miško
Šuvaković (University of Arts, Belgrade)
Interested applicants should send short CV, abstract for presentation and the
available application form. Download the application form here.
Please note that the Second Announcement with the detailed Programme of the
Summer School will follow on 1st of July 2011.
Deadline for submitting the application: July 15th 2011
Deadline for announcing the results of the selection process: August 3rd 2011

Please send your applications to the following contact persons:
Doc. Dr. Sofija Grandakovska,
Director of the Summer School
Email: sofija.grandakovska@euba.edu.mk