Steps Towards the Caucasus: Twenty Years of Friendship and Fruitful Academic Exchange between Shota Rustaveli University in Batumi and the Balkan Studies Seminar in Blagoevgrad (2006 – 2026)

Abstract

The article traces the origins and development of academic exchange with academic institutions in the South Caucasus, which began with small-scale initiatives and projects undertaken by groups of researchers from the Balkan Studies Seminar in Blagoevgrad. It follows the gradual expansion of this cooperation and friendship over a period of twenty years, as well as the broadening of activities to include new countries from the Black Sea region through two major European projects: "Politics of Memory and Memory Cultures of the Russian-Ottoman War 1877/1878: From Divergence to Dialogue" and ‘Knowledge Exchange and Academic Cultures in the Humanities. Europe and the Black Sea Region’. Much of the research focused on memory and conflicting narratives of the shared past in the Balkans and the Caucasus. Subsequently, the focus shifted towards the movement and exchange of knowledge, research models, and academic practices. What has remained constant throughout these years is the desire to learn more about our respective regions, the need for a comparative perspective, the commitment to working within an international network, and the ambition to study the Balkans, the Black Sea region, and the Caucasus in relation to one another rather than as isolated national worlds.