Third World On the Move: Cinematic Destination Belgrade/Serbia

The aim of this paper is to map manifold notions of migrant cinema and its history, in other words, film narratives about migrations from, across, and to the Balkans. The analysis looks at broader Balkan cinema that features as the context for focusing the changes of the migration pattern from and to Belgrade. The paper takes Practical Guide to Belgrade with Singing and Crying (Praktičan vodič kroz Beograd sa pevanjem i plakanjem, Bojan Vuletić, 2011) as its case study to show the recent reversal of migrant narratives in which the Balkans are the desired destination, in itself an exception to the rule. The analyses are based on the appropriated definition of migrant cinema and complemented with notions of inner exile and accented cinema.

The spread of agriculture in south-eastern Europe: new data from North Macedonia

North Macedonia is a crucial region for understanding the spread of agriculture into the Mediterranean and Central Europe. To date, however, the area has been subject to relatively limited archaeological research. Here, the authors present use-wear and archaeobotanical analyses on material from two Neolithic sites, Govrelevo and Vrbjanska Čuka, to investigate practices that were previously unstudied in this part of the Balkans, such as sowing, cultivation and harvesting techniques. The results suggest the presence of permanent crop fields located in wetlands, with autumn and spring sowing, and harvesting using curved sickles. The study illuminates early agricultural practices in North Macedonia and adds to our knowledge of the spread of the Neolithic package across Europe.

The Integration of the Eastern and Western Balkans into the EU and NATO

This chapter puts the European and Euro-Atlantic integration of the Balkans into the spotlight and further analyzes the reactions from Russia. This integrative process is a relevant intention, especially after the revolutionary changes of the 1990s and the collapse of the communist bloc. Literature is scarce, lacks an integrated approach, and barely addresses the topic from a comparative perspective. This research seeks to fill this gap through an empirical, systematic, and comparative analysis of the integration and disintegration processes across the region. The argument is that the integration is asymmetric, both between the two international organizations and between the two sub-regions, and that Russian investment decreases as integration goes forward. Findings highlight the complex interactions and interdependencies of the three mutually exclusive processes: the integration into the EU and NATO, the internal fragmentation of the region, and a transformation in the relationship with Russia when chasing the enlargement into these structures.