Between the Archives and the Field

The present volume binds together papers presented at the International Colloquium on Historical Anthropology held at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade 1-2. 10. 1996.

The Colloquium offered to researchers coming from different scientific communities (Austrian and Serbian) and disciplines (historical anthropology, social history and social anthropology) an opportunity to exchange ideas and opinions in direct dialogue. It was expected that contrary to being an obstacle, such differences would bring about a more nuanced understanding of the potentials and eventual weaknesses of a branch of historical science that inspires a growing interest, that is, of historical anthropology.

The editors tried to preserve in this volume the spirit of the Colloquium, that is the ideal of dialogue as a free and tolerant encounter of people having different or even opposed ideas. Out of that reason they did not insist on coherence in matters of form or length of the papers and have kept in even some polemical tones.

Much to their regret all the contributors in this project were forced to witness some of the most brutal consequences of the lack of desire for mutual understanding and dialogue in their proximity. At the moment of presenting this volume to the readers its editors most sincerely hope that they are not concluding a dialogue but rather initiating many new ones.

Karl Kaser, Slobodan Naumović, Miroslav Jovanović