The first day of the international conference "Transborder Heritage: A Multidisciplinary Approach," part of the Cultural Heritage Week promoted by Transform4Europe, is dedicated to the theme "Anthropology and Identities between Borders."
The panels are open to all members of the academic community.
PROGRAM
9:30 AM - Aula 1 A - Conference Room, 1st Floor, Building D, Main Campus
Inauguration of the European Common Cultural Heritage Conference T4EU
Institutional greetings and ceremonial opening of the T4EU Common European Heritage Week by Prof. Alberto Pallavicini, Delegate Rector for T4EU.
10:00 AM - Aula 1 A - Conference Room, 1st Floor, Building D, Main Campus
Anthropology and Identities between Borders
Panel Session
Identities without Borders? Challenges and Opportunities of a Common European Cultural Heritage
As members of the European alliance T4EU, we are tasked with promoting mobility within Europe's borders, imagining a future of integration. However, alongside this effort, barriers, walls, and borders have proliferated not only outside Europe but also within its own boundaries. In this context, heritage plays an increasingly crucial role in shaping identities. This is particularly problematic in border areas where social and cultural networks often diverge from historical and geopolitical maps. Here, a division emerges between forms of heritage rooted in local contexts and homogenizing identity representations. In light of this complexity, viewed through the lens of borders, this panel aims to critically examine the concept of Common European Heritage. Through case studies that explore forms of heritage that transcend the physical and symbolic borders of Europe, we ask: how does the relationship between majorities and minorities manifest? How is a sense of belonging shaped by internal and external mobility within European borders, marked by heterogeneous heritage? The panel aims to address these fundamental questions in imagining a dynamic and processual concept of Common European Heritage—one that remains sustainable over time and integrates Europe’s past, present, and future.
Identities in Motion – Bulgarian Communities in Ukraine and Transnistria
The cultural and linguistic situation, as well as the identities and identifications of members of Bulgarian communities abroad, are changing according to shifts in both Bulgaria and the countries where these communities live. This presentation is based on ongoing qualitative research—interviews and focus groups with Bulgarian-descended citizens from Ukraine and Transnistria, divided into two groups: youth (high school and university students), their parents, and local school teachers. The data collected so far highlight the dynamics of changes in identity perceptions, identifications, and cultural heritage within the Bulgarian diaspora in these regions, as well as the various relationships between these communities and Bulgaria, both as a historic homeland and as part of the EU. The current political situation and the war in Ukraine inevitably influence these processes. The research results could be used to guide policies concerning migrant communities in these specific contexts and more broadly.
Speaker: Prof. Nikolina Tsvetkova
Prof. Tsvetkova is involved in teaching and training teachers, designing educational materials, developing courses, evaluating learning materials, and training in intercultural communication. She has coordinated teacher training programs and master’s degrees, as well as EU-funded projects. Her research interests include intercultural communication, intercultural learning, e-learning, and the European dimension of education. She has published numerous articles, book chapters, and a monograph in these fields, as well as English language learning manuals. She currently coordinates the Department of European Studies at the Faculty of Philosophy at Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski.
Border Reality and Dynamics of Identity through the Focus of North-West Bulgaria
Political reality often changes human life, offering the opportunity to make choices that may seem unalterable. Living at the border or between two borders sometimes becomes a habitual event. Identity and self-awareness remain current themes in ethnological and anthropological research, as the socio-economic realities of the 21st century constantly challenge humans. As a result, support is sought in communities, often relying on historically conditioned indicators such as a linguistic community, a shared common past, an inhabited territorial area, local culture, and systems of rituals and customs. An interesting example of these dynamics is represented by the communities in the North-Western region of Bulgaria (Vidin and Nikopol districts). Their identity is fluid, but there are historical events that underpin the processes observed.
Speaker: Prof. Mira Markova
Mira Markova graduated from Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, where she currently teaches at the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology in the Faculty of History. Her scientific interests include local cultures, ethnology, urban anthropology, Bulgarian folk culture, memory, and contemporary religiosity. She has conducted numerous field ethnological studies in Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, Croatia, Poland, and Ukraine. The results of her research have been published in prestigious national and international journals. She is the author of the monographs "Local Urban Culture" and "Local Cultures and Traditions. The Cultural Transformation of Ritual Systems in the 21st Century." She has lectured as a guest professor at various European universities and has been elected Dean of the Faculty of History at Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski since 2019.
Speaker: Prof. Simeon Hinkovski
Simeon Hinkovski graduated from the Faculty of History at Sofia University with a specialization in medieval history and works in the fields of medieval diplomacy and Latin paleography. He is the Executive Director of the Museum of Sofia University St. Clement of Ohrid and Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology. In addition to studying international relations in the Middle Ages, his interests extend to cultural and historical heritage, digitalization, and related fields. He specialized in Latin paleography at the State Archives of Genoa and the State Archives of Dubrovnik and is a member of several historical societies and associations. He teaches digitalization, Latin paleography, medieval history (including African medieval history), and other related subjects.
A Shared Legacy of Silence: Hybrid Identities, Traumas, and Conflict Memories along the Slovenian-Italian Border
This presentation explores the persistent traumatic memories related to the contested border between Italy and Slovenia (former Yugoslavia). Based on the anthropological research project "Ethnography of Silence(s)," it proposes a methodology to study silence in the context of power dynamics, memory conflicts, and unspoken traumatic experiences. Through a comparative and multi-voiced approach, the research examines different social groups linked to the major traumas of the Italian-Slovenian border: fascism at the border, World War II, and the mass migration of people (mainly Italian-speaking) from Yugoslavia, known as the Istrian Exodus. Traumatic memories of border areas have been politically instrumentalized: some narratives have been silenced, while others have been mythologized to construct competing discourses of national victimization and foundations for collective identities. The research follows the formation and silencing of mnemonic constructs, traumatic experiences, and hybrid and fluid ethnic identities (national indifference) in various social spaces: from Slovenians affected by fascist violence at the border, to Istrian refugees in the contested town of Trieste, to Istrian exiles in Australia, to Italians who remained behind and became a national minority in Yugoslavia, as well as Slovenian immigrants and other Yugoslavs in depopulated Istrian towns. The aim is to uncover the hidden dynamics behind processes of ethnic identification, which often remain silenced in dominant national narratives, involving people from diverse ethnic backgrounds, especially in the context of the Istrian Exodus. All these groups, however, share a common legacy of silence, which, after more than seven decades, continues to weigh on transborder relations and interethnic coexistence. The research also addresses the tension between collective and individual memories, as well as the silences arising from the anthropologist’s position in different social contexts.
Speaker: Prof. Katja Hrobat Virloget
Katja Hrobat Virloget is head of the Department of Anthropology and Cultural Studies. Her book "Silences and Divided Memories. The Exodus and Its Legacy in Post-War Istrian Society" (Berghahn, 2023) has won several awards. She leads the research project "Ethnography of Silence(s)."
The Liminality of Images as a Shelter
This presentation is based on Yu. Lotman's research on the "phenomenon of art" within the context of cultural anthropology and cultural identity. It will present four artists who constantly cross boundaries—both physical and metaphorical. These include two painters and two graphic artists living between Sofia, Nis, Tsaribrod, Ohrid, and Brescia. Their cultural model of image creation and transmission, which cannot be attributed to a specific territorial school or style, falls into the absent dispute between A. Toynbee and Ph. Bagby on "invisible entities," in this case referring to cultural behavior. The duality in the behavior and works of the artists presented represents their topos and place of belonging. The regular crossing of borders and identities helps them create works that are readable in a broader visual context while also serving as a personal refuge for the artist.
Speaker: Prof. Bissera Valeva
Bissera Valeva graduated from the National Academy of Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria, with a specialization in "Mural Painting" under Prof. Mito Ganovski (1989). Since 1994, she has been working at Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski in the Department of "Visual Arts." Since 1997, she has been teaching "Painting" for the "Graphic Design" and "Book Design" specialties at the National Academy of Arts. Since 2005, she has obtained a doctorate in pedagogy and, since 2013, has been a professor of "Drawing and Composition" at Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski. She has been a member of the Union of Bulgarian Artists since 1991 and has received numerous awards and recognitions for her studies and subsequent works. She has held over 50 solo exhibitions in Bulgaria and abroad. Her works are part of the National Gallery of Sofia’s collection (Bulgaria) and state galleries and private collections in Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Germany, Greece, Cyprus, France, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, the United Kingdom, the USA, and more.