Editor's Foreword


With this volume, the new Balkanistica reaches another milestone: our first new volume of independently submitted contributions. When we restarted Balkanistica several years ago, many of us looked forward to the day when we would have received and positively evaluated enough individually submitted manuscripts to be able to produce a first, full, new volume. That day has come!

The first two new volumes of Balkanistica - Bulgaria, Past & Present: Transitions and Turning Points (co-edited by Dennis P. Hupchick and Donald L. Dyer) and Neka mu e vechna slavata, Studies Dedicated to the Memory of Zbigniew Golab, 19 March 1923-24 March 1994 (co-edited by Victor A. Friedman, Masha Belyavski-Frank, Mark Pisaro and David Testen) - were collections of articles gathered around a theme: the former (volume 9), conference proceedings from the Fifth Joint Meeting of Bulgarian and North American Scholars, held in Pittsburgh in 1994, and the latter (volume 10), a Gedenkschrift honoring Zbigniew Golab, formerly of the University of Chicago.

But volume 11 is different. Balkanistica 11 marks the journal's return to scholarly autonomy, scholarly independence. Submissions to Balkanistica have approached over fifteen a year, and the acceptance rate for manuscripts is approximately 25%, both signs that Balkanistica is healthy. Most disciplines are represented in this volume alone - economics, history, linguistics, musicology and political science - as are most Balkan countries and languages - Bosnia, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Serbia and Yugoslavia, as well as their languages. Moreover, this volume includes not only eight articles, but also one review article and three reviews. Let us take pause and enjoy Balkanistica's return.

Donald L. Dyer
March 1, 1998
Oxford, Mississippi


Notes and Acknowledgments

Most deserving of thanks in this volume are the past and present members of the editorial board of the South East European Studies Association (SEESA), which has supported from day one - and which continues to support - Balkanistica's rebirth: Robert Greenberg of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Christina Kramer of the University of Toronto, John Leafgren of the University of Arizona, Jim Augerot of the University of Washington, Paul Michelson of Huntington College, Victor Friedman of the University of Chicago, Grace Fielder of the University of Arizona, Elinor Depalatovic of Connecticut College and Charles Gribble of The Ohio State University.

I would also like to acknowledge at this time those scholars who have recently served or who are now serving as manuscript evaluators for new issues of Balkanistica. They are the unsung - and until now, unidentified - "heroes" of the rebirth of Balkanistica, and without their help, we would be nowhere. Many thanks to: Jim Augerot, John Bell, Masha Belyavski-Frank, Gary Bevington, Wayles Browne, Donna Buchanan, Judith Cohen, Loring Danforth, Ali Eminov, Martha Forsyth, Francine Friedman, Victor Friedman, Richard Frucht, Robert Greenberg, Chuck Gribble, Dennis Hupchick, Sarah Kent, Charles King, Snjezana Kordic, Christina Kramer, Mark Levy, Horace Lunt, Craig Melchert, Paul Michelson, Linda Nelson, Jan Perkowski, Sabrina Ramet, Ernest Scatton, James Seroka, Maria Todorova, John Treadway, Alexander Strakhov, Dorin Uritescu, Wim van Meurs, Emil Vrabie and Mariana Williams.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the special assistance provided to Balkanistica by Cynthia Vakareliyska in the editing of the piece by Shamraj, by Howard Aronson, who helped track down certain bibliographic information for the article by Avgustinova, and by Judith Cohen and Henry Weich in the editing and correcting of the piece by Weich-Shahak. Until next time.

Don Dyer
March 1, 1998
Oxford, Mississippi



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