International Roundtable Discussion «A Fairytale World, An Amazing Land? History, Language, and Culture of Multi-Ethnic Banat». 10 April 2025.

Abstract

This article focuses on an international roundtable discussion held this year as part of the Interdisciplinary Central-European Seminar at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences “A Fairytale World, An Amazing Land? History, Language, and Culture of Multi-ethnic Banat.” The roundtable was a significant event for intellectual contacts between scholars from both Russia and several European countries. It brought together historians and philologists from Hungary, Russia, Romania, Serbia, and France. The presentations were diverse in scope, covering the territories of modern-day Hungary, Romania, and Serbia. The discussions touched on both the historical and contemporary territories of the Banat. The history section focused primarily on the Banat in the 18th and 19th centuries. Papers were presented on the study of interethnic processes in 18th-century Banat, the GISta Hungarorum historical database, the Romanian historian Nicolae Stoica, and the religious paintings of the Serbian artist Arsenije Teodorović. Papers in the philology section focused on the modern Banat and were based on fieldwork and expeditions. Papers touched on, for example, spring holiday customs in Romanian and Serbian villages of Banat, the current state of the Banat-Bulgarian language in the village of Ivanovo in Serbian Banat, and the epigraphy of Czech tombstones in the village of Sfânta Elena. The papers were followed by lively and fruitful discussions among the roundtable participants. The materials presented by the authors in their reports and the exchange of opinions allowed us to create a comprehensive picture of the Banat and to understand that a number of interdisciplinary issues await closer attention from researchers.

Received 22 September 2025

Revised 8 October 2025

Accepted 10 October 2025

For citation: Makushin, A. Yu., 2025. International Roundtable Discussion «A Fairytale World, An Amazing Land? History, Language, and Culture of Multi-Ethnic Banat». 10 April 2025. Slavic World in the Third Millennium, 20 (3–4), pp. 344–352. https://doi.org/10.31168/2412-6446.2025.20.3-4.17