Main research areas

The Department of South Slavonic and Balkan Studies was founded on 1^st February 2011. Its scientific and pedagogical activities are based on the tradition of the Department of Slavistics and the Department of Slavonic and East European Studies (Seminars of South-East European Studies). The scientific profile of the Department of South Slavonic and Balkan Studies (KJBS) is necessarily very wide and diverse, considering the fact it combines a philological orientation with elements of a regional approach, and considering the wide array of taught languages (Albanian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Romanian, Serbian, Slovenian). Members of the Department focus on research primarily in these areas:

1. Linguistics: Paleoslavistics, comparative linguistics, synchronic and diachronic Slavistics, lexicography, etc.
2. Literary studies: modern Bulgarian literature, contemporary Croatian literature, early 20^th century Slovenian literature, Serbian modern literature, literature and folklore of the Slavonic Balkans, etc.
3. Modern history of South-East Europe: political history of the Yugoslav state, demographic changes in the region of South-East Europe, analysis of the development of Albania during the regime of E. Hoxha, etc.

Current Projects

Employees of the Department of South Slavonic and Balkan Studies of the Faculty of Philosophy, Charles University, participate in projects within the faculty. Some members of the Department participate in the new programme of the faculty, “Progress” (since 1 January 2017).

The first project is “Language in the shiftings of time, space, and culture”, led by Doc. Petr Čermák. Employees of the Department Prof. PhDr. Hana Gladkova, CSc., Ph.D., Mgr. Orkida Backus Borshi and Mgr. Grégoire Labbé participate in this thematic module.

Doc. PhDr. Alenka Jensterle-Doležalová, CSc and Prof. PhDr. Hana Gladkova, CSc. participate in the project of the faculty led by Doc. Daniel Berounský, Ph.D.: “Places of Clashing: Strategic Regions between Europe, North Africa and Asia”.

Alphabet of Czech Culture – Electronic Database of Czech Cultural and Linguistic Heritage, funded by the Ministry of Culture within the programme of applied research and development of national and cultural identity (2016-2022), NAKI II, no. DG 16P02B018.

The aim of the project is to create a contemporary and user-friendly source of information about the Czech cultural and linguistic heritage, as a resource for facilitating the integration of foreigners into the Czech society. The main outcome of the project is a digital encyclopaedia of the Czech cultural and linguistic heritage – an “alphabet of Czech culture” – focusing on linguistic and cultural aspects of interethnic communication, in the form of a website and applications for mobile devices with a database and an interactive map of selected cultural, historical, social and linguistic elements.