Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MIGWEB (A Comparative Diachronic Analysis of Post-Byzantine Networks in the Early-modern Europe(15th-18th c.))
Reporting period: 2017-07-01 to 2019-06-30
This Marie S. Curie Action allowed a dynamic collaboration and scholarly exchange on an important emerging topic of the human historical movements and mobility, focusing on a paradigm of the émigrés from the Balkan peninsula to the borders of Christian Europe, 15th -18th c. Grafting upon the interdisciplinary scholarly approach, the Action examined the émigrés' networking and the effects which their movements from the Balkans and Byzantine East had on them, their offspring and host societies, as well as on our modern identities and the common European “heritage” of this migration. The research process prompted a comprehensive exchange of knowledge between the Researcher and other members of the Host University's Department of History, other institutions of the University of London, the UK and international academic community, setting some initial communication of this knowledge to the non-scholarly audience; these activities, as well as the Researcher’s trainings and collaborations with the publishers, digital humanities and charity work allowed her full re-integration to the UK/EU research realm, as well as the possibility to continue internationally expanding the research set by this project through her new teaching role at the Goldsmiths University of London. In its research part, the MIGWEB project focused on the relationships which the émigrés developed among themselves upon their settlement and with various structures of their receiving societies. The MIGWEB project clearly showed that since their initial settlement, the Balkan émigrés in the European West developed “fluid” ties that, on the one hand, allowed them to connect with the sources of circumstantial security in their new environment (military authorities, in the first place), but also to keep their sense of safety and belonging by liaising with the people, institutions and values that reflected their previous bonds, values and ways of life. These findings challenge common modern national stereotypes still prevalent in Central Europe and the Balkans that post-Byzantine movements to the West were well-organised, coordinated, Exodus-type implantations of the previously differentiated and compact ethnic communities, clearly showing more random and immediate interest connections, and a highly diverse base implanted to the common European heritage. The Action's objectives were met by the planned sources' collection and their comparative interdisciplinary analysis that took place in the libraries and archives of the UK, Italy, Hungary and Serbia, as well as at transferring knowledge via curricular activities at the Host Institution, dissemination of academic knowledge in scholarly literature and conferences, and outreach activities targeting general and stake-holding audience, as well as the Researcher’s training which upgraded her specialist skills, boosting her employability and creating opportunities for her connections with industry.
To explain and historically evaluate the main questions, the first stage of the project’s research (Work package 1.1) done between July 2017-February 2018, surveyed the socio-historical contexts that prompted the émigrés’ bonding and networks, determining the efficient connections of proximity and ways in which the émigrés formulated and expressed their community collaborations. The second stage of the research, done between February 2018 and October 2018, investigated how émigré webs were organized, and controlled to keep together the individuals of various backgrounds, generations and interests in changing historical circumstances. The last stage of the research, performed between November 2018 and June 2019, dealt with the networks’ agencies and structures that facilitated diverse interactions between the émigrés and their host societies, giving particular attention to the common networking patterns that channelled the émigrés’ integration into a wider early-modern European society. The most significant research results and the collected primary sources, together with the tools of their analysis were integrated in the curriculum of the Host University during the AY 2018-2019 by tutoring its seminar for the course on The Ottoman History (HS2012) and by giving consultations to two of the Department’s postgraduate students. It also informed the Department’s Research Seminar (Fall 2017), as well as the seminars held at its partner institutions, namely the Institute of Historical Research and its Late Mediaeval and Early Modern Italy Seminar (Fall 2017), and the University of London’s postgraduate seminar on editing Byzantine texts organised by the Hellenic Institute of Royal Holloway at the Warburg Institute of London’s School of Advanced Studies (Spring 2018). The major research results of the project were summed at the biennial interdisciplinary training of European postgraduate students from Central Europe, organised at the Fourth International Medieval Workshop in Rijeka, Croatia (May 2019), and the Researcher actively attended the Host Institution’s Annual Lecture (Spring 2018 and 2019), the lectures organised by its Hellenic Institute and other public events hosted by the University. Between July 2018 until June 2019, the most significant results of the research were presented and disseminated to the international academic audience at ten scholarly conferences. The research activities were followed by scholarly dissemination (5 articles in the process of publication) that target both academic and the general UK and European public; a presentation at the project's web page, and the project summaries published at the Researcher’s and the Host’s academia.edu and Research Gate web pages and an experimental blog on forced migrations; specific case studies were presented to the public through a debate on forced migrations that took place in the Host Institution’s interdisciplinary Refugee group and a Research Incubator Seminar of the Department of History; international field networks (CARMEN 2017, MECERN 2018); an article targeting stake-holders in the Project Repositories Journal, and a charity initiative of supporting the education of young refugees in Surrey.
The research of authentic primary materials revealed new documentation to be examined in archives of Italy, Serbia and Hungary; namely, on the Roma who migrated together with the main Balkan groups. The Researcher is preparing a proposal for a thematic collection of edited papers generated during this project through the Researcher’s and Host’s collaborations with scholars of other UK, EU and international institutions. This proposal will be offered to the Oxford University Press. The materials of this project, namely those pertaining to émigré intellectuals, supplemented the Researcher’s contribution to other European action, COST IS1310 (closed in 2018). During the upcoming, AY 2019-2020, the Researcher will present the main research results to the Hungarian secondary school students who opt for applying to the EU and UK universities, and is currently preparing an inaugural lecture at her new institution, defining the curricular enrichment for the history of the Balkans and its global connections.