Die Geschichte Südosteuropas neu denken!
A New Approach to the Historiography of Southeast Europe

Summary/Abstract: Following a short outline of the main approaches, semantics and limits of national historiography in Southeast Europe / the Balkans, the article focuses on some phenomena which do not fit in with the history of a state or the history and “prehistory” of a nation. This is especially true for many of the migrations in pre-modern times. Crossing the borders of states and cultures (often accompanied by an identity switch) was an important aspect of everyday life. Besides the history of states and (modern) nations, the history of migrations (beyond states and nations) should therefore figure as a third pillar of Southeast European historiography. One of the main challenges of such an approach concerns the identification of ethnic groups. Many of the recorded ethnonyms do not necessarily correspond to an ethnic group (in the sense of a group with common descent). In many cases it remains unclear what is behind a name. The same ethnonym was often applied to people of different origin who were only united by their profession, language or religion. In most cases the ethnic origins of modern nations and the ethnic continuity of pre-modern ethnic groups is a matter of pure speculation. The article stresses the contingent and performative character of ethnic and national identity and argues in favour of a historiography which questions the popular perceptions of autochtonity and continuity of groups.

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