Bates professors to discuss Balkan crisis

Two Bates College faculty members, Dennis Browne, associate professor of Russian, and Loring Danforth, professor of anthropology, will discuss the crisis in the Balkans in a question and answer session, today at 4 p.m. in Skelton Lounge in Chase Hall, 56 Campus Avenue. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

Designed to inform the Bates and Lewiston-Auburn communities about the unfolding events in Europe, Browne and Danforth will make brief presentations about their areas of expertise, followed by questions from the audience.

Danforth received critical acclaim for his recent book The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transitional World (Princeton University Press, 1997). Danforth examines the Macedonian conflict– set in the broader context of Balkan history and the more narrow context of the disintegration of Yugoslavia– in light of contemporary theoretical work on ethnic nationalism, the construction of national identities and cultures, the invention of tradition and the role of the state in building a nation.

Browne, an expert in Balkan language, literature and culture as well as Russian popular culture, has traveled frequently to Yugoslavia and Croatia, and communicates regularly with friends and colleagues in Serbia. He is critical of U.S. And NATO policies leading to and following the Paris peace talks.