Slavic studies


Slavic or Slavonic 'studies, also known as Slavistics', is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic peoples, languages, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was primarily a linguist or philologist researching Slavistics. Increasingly, historians, social scientists, and other humanists who study Slavic cultures and societies have been included in this rubric.
In the United States, Slavic studies is dominated by Russian studies. Ewa Thompson, a professor of Slavic studies at Rice University, described the situation of non-Russian Slavic studies as "invisible and mute".

History

Slavistics emerged in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, simultaneously with Romantic nationalism among various Slavic nations, and ideological attempts to establish a common sense of Slavic community, exemplified by the Pan-Slavist movement. Among the first scholars to use the term was Josef Dobrovský.
The history of Slavic studies can be divided into three periods. Until 1876 the early Slavists concentrated on documentation and printing of monuments of Slavic languages, among them the first texts written in national languages. At this time the majority of Slavic languages received their first modern dictionaries, grammars, and compendia. The second period, ending with World War I, featured the rapid development of Slavic philology and linguistics, most notably outside of Slavic countries themselves, in the circles formed around August Schleicher and around August Leskien at the University of Leipzig. At this time, Slavonic scholars focused on dialectology.
After World War II, centers of Slavic studies were created at various universities around the world, with much greater expansion into other humanities and social science disciplines. This development was partly due to political concerns in Western Europe and the North America arising from the Cold War. Slavic studies flourished in the years from World War II into the 1990s, though university enrollments in Slavic languages have declined since then.

Subfields

Following the traditional division of Slavs into three subgroups, Slavic studies are divided into three distinct subfields:
  • East Slavic studies, encompassing the study of East Slavic peoples and their linguistic, literary, and other cultural and historical heritages.
  • * Belarusian studies, or Belarusistics ;
  • * Russian studies, or Russistics ;
  • * Rusyn studies, or Rusynistics ;
  • * Ukrainian studies, or Ukrainistics ;
  • South Slavic studies, encompassing the study of South Slavic peoples and their linguistic, literary, and other cultural and historical heritages.
  • * Bosniac studies, or Bosniacistics ;
  • * Bulgarian studies, or Bulgaristics ;
  • * Croatian studies, or Croatistics ;
  • * Macedonian studies, or Macedonistics ;
  • * Montenegrin studies, or Montenegristics ;
  • * Serbian studies, or Serbistics ;
  • * Slovene Studies, or Slovenistics ;
  • * Yugoslav studies, or Yugoslavistics ;
  • West Slavic studies, encompassing the study of West Slavic peoples and their linguistic, literary, and other cultural and historical heritages.
  • * Czech studies, or Bohemistics ;
  • * Kashubian studies, or Kashubistics ;
  • * Polish studies, or Polonistics ;
  • * Slovak studies, or Slovakistics ;
  • * Sorbian studies, or Sorbistics.

    Slavic countries and areas of interest

  • By country:
  • * Belarus: language, literature, culture, history
  • * Bosnia and Herzegovina: language, literature, culture, history
  • * Bulgaria: language, literature, culture, history
  • * Croatia: language, literature, culture, history
  • * Czech Republic: language, literature, culture, history
  • * North Macedonia: language, literature, culture, history
  • * Montenegro: language, literature, culture, history
  • * Poland: languages/dialects, literature, culture, history
  • * Russia: language, literature, culture, history
  • * Serbia: language, literature, culture, history
  • * Slovakia: language, literature, culture, history
  • * Slovenia: language, literature, culture, history
  • * Ukraine: language, literature, culture, history
  • * Other languages: Serbo-Croatian, Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, Kashubian, Polabian, Rusyn, Old Church Slavonic

    Notable people

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