The Turkish Studies Project at the University of Utah is organizing a two-day long conference to examine the causes and short and long-term social and political impacts of the Balkans Wars on the late Ottoman period and on the formation of the modern Balkan nation-states. This conference is part of the conference series initiated by the Turkish Studies Project at the University of Utah. The first conference, with a thematic focus on the Berlin Treaty of 1878, was held successfully in early April of 2010 and an edited volume is under preparation as originally planned (see the following for further information: http://www.poli-sci.utah.edu/turkish_berlin1878.html).

The papers presented and discussed in this conference will be compiled in an edited volume following a strict peer-review process. The conference addresses four major questions: What were the causes of the Balkan Wars? What were the short and long-term consequences of the Balkan Wars? Did these wars set the pattern of ethnic and/or religious cleansing in the region? How should one approach to study the wars that shaped the collective memory at play in nation-state building projects in the Balkans? Why is there such a consistent neglect of certain groups’ suffering cause by the wars? Thematically, the panels will focus on the following four areas:

1. Arguments and Historical Methods: What are the main arguments of the Ottoman and Balkan scholars on the causes and consequences of the Balkan Wars? What types of questions are raised? What is the hegemonic methodology and discourse in these works? Which methods have been effective and ineffective in studying these wars? Which new methodologies can be applied to the study of the Balkan Wars?
2. Memory in Literature, Art, and Music: How does imagery in literature, art, and music portray these wars? How do Turkish and Balkan societies try to preserve the memories of these wars? Is there a shared collective memory about the impact of the Balkan Wars that is reflected in various genres of art? For which audience is the art made and does this have an impact on what is remembered? What is remembered and what is forgotten, and how does selective memory come to dominate? Is there too much reference to Muslim brutality in the war and too little to the suffering of Muslims? What are the main themes in these memoirs? What are the drawbacks and benefits of such sources?
3. Social and Diplomatic History: What is the connection between diplomatic and social history in theorizing about and understanding the Balkan Wars? Is there a tendency for scholars to focus mainly on diplomatic history instead of social history? Does the social and diplomatic history exclude or include each other? What are some of the lacunae on scholarship dealing with the Balkan Wars? What type of questions do we need to ask when we are reading documents or memoirs of the Balkan wars?
4. Trauma and Imprints on Modern Turkey: What were the short and long-term effects of the Balkan wars? What was the impact of the Balkan Wars on the decision of the CUP to enter the First World War? What were the effects of these wars on the emergence of modern Turkey? What were the impacts of the Balkan Wars on the way Turkish identity and Turkish nationalism came to evolve?

The organizers will provide accommodation and meals for the duration of the conference but we would be grateful if you first contact your own institution to cover the expenses of travel to and from Salt Lake City, UT.

Participants should arrive at Salt Lake City airport by 6 pm on the evening of Thursday May 5. The conference will begin on the morning of May 6, and end in the late afternoon of May 7. Accommodation will be available for those participants for whom it is more convenient to leave on the morning of May 8.

We wish to receive the title of your paper and a 200-300 word abstract by December 15th, 2010, and a first draft by March 15th, 2011. The planned edited volume that will feature the papers presented in this conference is set for publication in the course of the year 2012.

We very much hope that you will be able to participate.

Organizers and Editors:
M. Hakan Yavuz (hakan.yavuz@poli-sci.utah.edu)
Isa Blumi (hisibb@langate.gsu.edu)

Contact Person:
Ramazan Hakki Oztan (ramazan.oztan@utah.edu)