Maria Todorova
Encyclopedia
Maria N. Todorova is a Bulgaria
n historian
and philosopher who is best known for her application of Edward Said
's notion of "Orientalism
" to the Balkans. She is the daughter of former Bulgarian President Nikolai Todorov
.
. She specializes in the history of the Balkans
in the modern period.
Her current research revolves around problems of nationalism, especially the symbol
ism of nationalism
, national memory and national heroes in Bulgaria and the Balkans. Between 2007-2010, Todorova also led an international research team of scholars on the project: Remembering Communism.
She studied history and English at the University of Sofia
, and obtained her PhD
in 1977. Maria Todorova was subsequently Adjunct and Visiting Professor at various institutions - including Sabanci University
in Istanbul
and the University of Florida
(where she was also Professor). She was awarded the prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship
in 2000.
's Orientalism
and Milica Bakić-Hayden's Nesting Orientalisms
. She has said of the book:
as well as edited volumes and numerous articles and essays on social
and cultural history
, historical demography
, and historiography
of the Balkans in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and philosopher who is best known for her application of Edward Said
Edward Said
Edward Wadie Saïd was a Palestinian-American literary theorist and advocate for Palestinian rights. He was University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and a founding figure in postcolonialism...
's notion of "Orientalism
Orientalism
Orientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...
" to the Balkans. She is the daughter of former Bulgarian President Nikolai Todorov
Nikolai Todorov
Nikolai Todorov served as acting President of Bulgaria in 1990.-Career:Todorov was inspired to go into politics after the trial of Traycho Kostov, whom he had shared a prison cell with during World War II. After a distinguished academic career, which included a position at the National and...
.
Career
Professor Maria Todorova is currently a Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
. She specializes in the history of the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
in the modern period.
Her current research revolves around problems of nationalism, especially the symbol
Symbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
ism of nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
, national memory and national heroes in Bulgaria and the Balkans. Between 2007-2010, Todorova also led an international research team of scholars on the project: Remembering Communism.
She studied history and English at the University of Sofia
Sofia University
The St. Clement of Ohrid University of Sofia or Sofia University is the oldest higher education institution in Bulgaria, founded on 1 October 1888...
, and obtained her PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in 1977. Maria Todorova was subsequently Adjunct and Visiting Professor at various institutions - including Sabanci University
Sabanci University
Sabancı University is a private research institution located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded in 1996. SU is a small and highly focused university with 2861 undergraduates and 624 graduates, maintaining a strong emphasis on social and natural sciences...
in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
and the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
(where she was also Professor). She was awarded the prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
in 2000.
Balkanism
Todorova is well known for her work concerning the history of the Balkans. Her groundbreaking work, Imagining the Balkans deals with the region's inconsistent (but usually negative) image inside Western culture, as well as with the paradoxes of cultural reference and its assumptions. In it, she develops a theory of Balkanism or Nesting Balkanisms, similar to Edward SaidEdward Said
Edward Wadie Saïd was a Palestinian-American literary theorist and advocate for Palestinian rights. He was University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and a founding figure in postcolonialism...
's Orientalism
Orientalism (book)
Orientalism is a book published in 1978 by Edward Said that has been highly influential and controversial in postcolonial studies and other fields. In the book, Said effectively redefined the term "Orientalism" to mean a constellation of false assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the...
and Milica Bakić-Hayden's Nesting Orientalisms
Nesting Orientalisms
Nesting Orientalisms is a concept introduced by Milica Bakić-Hayden, a visiting lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh. It is based on gradation of "Orients", i.e...
. She has said of the book:
The central idea of Imagining the Balkans is that there is a discourse, which I term Balkanism, that creates a stereotype of the Balkans, and politics is significantly and organically intertwined with this discourse. When confronted with this idea, people may feel somewhat uneasy, especially on the political scene...The most gratifying response to me came from a very good BritishUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
journalist, Misha GlennyMisha GlennyMisha Glenny is a British journalist who specializes in southeastern Europe and global organized crime.-Biography:Glenny is the son of the late Russian studies academic Michael Glenny...
, who has written well and extensively on the Balkans. He said, 'You know, now that I look back, I have been guilty of Balkanism,' which was a really honest intellectual response.
Selected works
Her publications include:- Balkan Family Structure and the European Pattern: Demographic Developments in Ottoman Bulgaria (American U Press, 1993),
- English Travelers' Accounts on the Balkans (16th-19th c.) (in BulgarianBulgarian languageBulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
, SofiaSofiaSofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, 1987), - England, Russia, and the Tanzimat (in RussianRussian languageRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, MoscowMoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, 1983; in Bulgarian, Sofia, 1980), - Historians on History (in Bulgarian, Sofia, 1988), Selected Sources for Balkan History (in Bulgarian, Sofia, 1977),
- The History of the Balkan Peoples - 1702-1704 Vol. 5,
- Postcommunist Nostalgia, Maria Todorova and Zsuzsa Gille (Eds.) Berghahn Books, 2010
- Remembering Communism: Genres of Representation. Social Science Research Council, 2010
as well as edited volumes and numerous articles and essays on social
Social history
Social history, often called the new social history, is a branch of History that includes history of ordinary people and their strategies of coping with life. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in history departments...
and cultural history
Cultural history
The term cultural history refers both to an academic discipline and to its subject matter.Cultural history, as a discipline, at least in its common definition since the 1970s, often combines the approaches of anthropology and history to look at popular cultural traditions and cultural...
, historical demography
Demography
Demography is the statistical study of human population. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic human population, that is, one that changes over time or space...
, and historiography
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
of the Balkans in the 19th and 20th centuries.