Can Western Europe be at home in the Balkans?

Abstract

As the title of this final chapter suggests, we wish to reverse the position that runs through much of the existing literature, of whether and how the Balkans have been seeking a home in Europe. Guided by Julia Kristeva’s important idea that it is only at the point at which we can imagine ourselves as strangers that we can start dealing with difference productively (as an enrichment of rather than threat to identity), we suggest that, as far as imagining a future Europe as “united in difference” goes, we need to think not only about the Balkans as part of a “growing” Europe but also of Europe as being at home in the Balkans...