SOCIETY FOR SLOVENE STUDIES
c/o Timothy Pogacar
Department of German, Russian & East Asian Languages
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH 43403-0219 USA
email: pogacar@bgnet.bgsu.edu
David F. Stermole
Editor, SSS Letter
25 Hoseyhill Crescent
Scarborough, ON
Canada M1S 2X3
email: stermole@chass.utoronto.ca
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The Society for Slovene Studies' membership will grow during the next eighteen months by at least 30%, increasing from a current total of 289 to over 400 members. At the November 2006 meeting in Washington, Past-President Metod Milac made membership growth a priority. New members are needed to assure the society's continued vitality.
Please invite a colleague or student to join the society. A membership form is enclosed with this newsletter. Remember that joint memberships cost only US $35 (your own dues of $20 plus $15) and include two sets of mailings. Individual memberships will remain $20; student memberships are a mere $5. Remember that a person need not be in academia to join the society.
During this decade membership has fluctuated between 273 (in 2002) and 290 (in 2006). Approximately two-thirds of our members live in North America, over fifty reside in Slovenia, eight in Great Britain, seven in Austria, six in Italy, and four in Australia. The society is fortunate to have enrolled three Japanese members, as many as in German and Hungary. One SSS member lives in South America (Chile).
It is obvious that scholarly interest in Slovene affairs around the world is far greater than SSS membership would suggest.
Please invite a colleague or student to join the society. New members will receive volume 29 (June 2007), devoted to ethnomusicology, and volume 30, number 1 (2008, to be published September 2007).
Timothy Pogacar
The time has come for me to turn over my responsibilities as President of the Society for Slovene Studies to my successor, Dr. Timothy Pogacar. By his long service with the Society, Tim is ideally qualified to lead our association into the future and will bring new vigor to pursue the path set by the Society's founders.
Over the last six years, I have been privileged to work with the best executive team I have experienced during my long life in academia. I thank the officers of the Society for their hard work, dedication, and support.
The success of a professional association such as ours derives from the contributions and vitality of its members, from those with scholarly interest in Slovene life and culture and from those committed to the Society by any other form of support. My cordial thanks to the members, past and present, for assisting me and for enabling the Society to carry out its mission. I look with pride on the past and with enthusiasm toward the future.
Metod M. Milač
This issue of the Letter contains exciting news from the Consulate General in Cleveland of Slovene government funding for archival, educational, museum, and research activities centered in the city and involving a number of Ohio universities and colleges. This initiative is in large part the result of efforts by longtime SSS member Dr. Zvone Žigon, who has been successfully serving as consul general for two years. Society for Slovene Studies members can look forward to cooperating with Dr. Žigon on this groundbreaking initiative starting in 2008.
Enclosed you will find a brochure describing a future, endowed center for Slovene Studies, which has been under discussion since 2004 in a committee appointed by Past-President Metod Milač. Please consider the brochure a formal announcement of the society's intention to solicit money for this center, to be sited at a major U.S. research university. Indeed, I encourage you to bring the endowment fund to the attention of potential donors.
These two initiatives -- the Slovene government-sponsored project centered in Cleveland and the SSS drive for an endowed center for Slovene Studies -- are complementary. The first addresses a pressing need. SSS members will certainly applaud Dr. Žigon's success in drawing the Slovene government's attention to it. The second, an endowed center, is a long-term project.
Timothy Pogacar
Since being appointed consul general of the Republic of Slovenia in Cleveland in 2005, Dr. Zvone Žigon has lobbied for establishing a lecturership of Slovene language and culture in the city. He has also urged founding a museum and archive, on the models of Czech, Croatian, Hungarian, Ukrainian, and other ethnic groups' institutions in the area. In response, in July 2007, the government of the Republic of Slovenia approved a project proposal for a lecturership, museum, and staffing, as recommended by a ten-member panel of experts that it appointed.
The Cleveland center will promote interdisciplinary research and preservation and fostering of Slovene culture and language. The center will work with interested universities in the U.S. on promoting Slovene language study and coursework in other disciplines. To this end, Consul General Žigon has held discussions with representatives of Cleveland State University, Lakeland Community College, Bowling Green State University, Kent State University, John Carroll University, The Ohio State University, and others. The University of Nova Gorica has, on the Slovene side, expressed greatest interest in the project. Among programs of possible interest, the university offers programs in "Slovene Studies," "Cultural History," and "Migration and Intercultural Relations." The Slovene Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Technology has invited other institutions to participate as well. The Cleveland center staff will act as coordinator for research and educational contacts and exchanges between Slovene institutions and universities in the U.S.
Specifically, the Cleveland center staff, comprising a language and culture instructor, an adminstrative assistant, and a lecturer in a discipline to be named (e.g., European studies, intercultural communication, or cultural history) will:
The project is open to cooperation with all organizations and educational and research institutions in the U.S. with shared interests in promoting Slovene studies.
Dr. Zvone Žigon, consul general
Consulate General of the Republic of Slovenia
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Donald F. Reindl edited volume 29 (2007), devoted to ethnomusicology. Readers will no doubt appreciate the superb work that went into this volume.
Slovene Studies Journal Change: Beginning with volume 29 (2007), the journal will begin following the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, author-date system of citing sources in the text of articles and reviews. The author-date system is more widely employed in the social sciences and many in the humanities are familiar with it. The only major exception to the Chicago Manual's use will be the listing of full first names in citations as opposed to first initials. Explanatory footnotes are, of course, still possible and often desirable. Volume 29 will refer to the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed. on the back inside cover instead of the Modern Language Association's style sheet. Journal contributors are asked to direct queries about the journal's style to the editor.
To read book reviews in a timely fashion (i.e., before publication in the journal), you can find them on our website (http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/~ljubljan/reviews.html). If you are looking for a reference or information on a certain topic, try the searchable index or the tables of contents available on our website.
Timothy Pogacar
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Our web site exists to further the Society's missions of "fostering closer communication among scholars interested in Slovene studies and promoting the dissemination of scholarly information on Slovene studies".
The Publications of the Members section relies on self-reporting by our members to provide timely information. If you publish with the intent of sharing your scholarship, please send the full bibliographic details to the WebMaster.
If you have any suggestions as to how I could make the website more interesting or more useful, please feel free to pass along your ideas.
DF Stermole
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Please be advised that the 2007 Annual Meeting of the Society for Slovene Studies will be held in conjunction with the 39th National Convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS) in New Orleans, LA, at the New Orleans Marriott Hotel, 15-18 November 2007.
The following SSS panels and those of related interest appear in the preliminary program.
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Please be advised that the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Society for Slovene Studies will be held in conjunction with the 40th National Convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the Philadelphia Marriott, 20-23 November 2008.
Organizers (AAASS members or non-foreign members) should bear in mind that proposals must be for complete panels and normally involve presentation of prepared papers (no more than three). The Program Committee encourages the submission of panel proposals that include men and women. For panels sponsored by the Society for Slovene Studies, it is advised that its panels have international participation. A goal of the conference is to foster international cooperation and better understanding of the discussed region. Organizers should observe the following rules:
It is time to begin preparing (at least thinking about) proposals for the next year's panels and roundtables. Proposals should be submitted to the AAASS national office by 15 JANUARY 2008. Two hard copies of the proposal form (available in the AAASS NewsNet and http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~aaass) and one copy of a brief C.V. for each participant should be sent to
WENDY WALKER, Convention Coordinator
AAASS, 8 STORY STREET, CAMBRIDGE, MA 02138.
For information only: (617) 495-0677; fax: (617) 495-0680; e-mail: aaass@hcs.harvard.edu
If the panels are to be sponsored by the Society for Slovene Studies or have considerable Slovene content, please send a copy also to our Program Coordinator, Veronica E. Aplenc, at vaplenc@yahoo.com) to help avoid program conflicts at the convention.
Detailed information about the procedure for submitting panel/roundtable proposals can be found in NewsNet, the Newsletter of the AAASS, September 2001. For any other questions you may have or if there is a need for help in organizing a panel or roundtable, please contact the SSS program coordinator Veronica E. Aplenc at vaplenc@yahoo.com. Remember, it is never too early to start organizing panels.
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For the past five years the Society has sponsored a panel featuring young scholars in Slovene Studies. The sessions have been very well received and provide an opportunity for the Society to learn about new researchers in the field. We hope to continue offering these panels annually.
If you are currently doing graduate work or have recently completed a graduate degree, and wish to prepare a paper for the 2008 Philadelphia meeting, please contact Carole Rogel at rogel.1@osu.edu no later than December 10, 2007.
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The Society for Slovene Studies gratefully acknowledges contributions to its Printing and Endowment Funds. (The Printing Fund was established in the early 1980s with a bequest from the estate of Mary Molek. The Endowment Fund was enlarged in the early 1990s with a bequest from the estate of John Nielsen.) These enable the Society to carry out its mission of timely dissemination of scholarly information about Slovenia and its people. The following are all of the contributions which have been received since the publication of the previous Letter. Please remember that your contributions are tax deductible in the U.S. Our deepest thanks to all contributors!
Printing Fund: Dr. & Mrs. Miso Aksmanović, Aleksandra Ceferin, Sandi Cerferin, Milan Kravanja, Patrick Patterson
Endowment Fund: Milan Kravanja, Bogdan Novak, Patrick Patterson, Srečko Pogačar, Carole Rogel
Rado L. Lencek Graduate Student Prize: Lydia Mihelich Pulsipher
Joseph Velikonja Undergraduate Student Prize: Lydia Mihelich Pulsipher, Jože Velikonja
The above list reflects contributions made since 1 October 2006. Contributions made after 31 July 2007 will be acknowledged in the next issue of the Letter.
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Olga Chumak, Peter Jurgec, Darja Kerec, Kajetan Kovič, Erik Kuret, Michael Paul Mahoney, Srečko Pogačar, Olena Sergijenko, Alenka Suhodolnik, Joseph Vene, Nina Vodopivec, Jera Vodušek Starič
Carole Rogel
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Veronica E. Aplenc, who serves as the Society's Program Officer, has recently accepted the position of Executive Director of the Chestnut Hill Historical Society, a non-profit that preserves and nurtures the historic character of the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia. Society members can continue to contact her at her previous e-mail of vaplenc@yahoo.com.
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This section of the SSS Letter registers recent publications in Slovene studies by members of the Society. All Society members are urged to send bibliographic citations for their scholarly publications to the Editor, preferably by email to stermole@chass.utoronto.ca. All submissions will be duly noted in the following issue of the SSS Letter. [N.B. In the following citations, members are listed first; the use of "with" following the member's name indicates that he/she was not the primary author.]
Borštnik, Pavle. "Ob letu," Ameriška domovina, 11 January 2007.
________. "Potegnite črto", Ameriška domovina, 15 February 2007.
________. "Mirče Pregelj -- 80 letnik", Ameriška domovina, 3 May 2007.
________. "Razvoj v Sloveniji", Ameriška domovina, 3 May 2007.
Drnovšek, Marjan. "Nekaj vidiki odnosa slovenske javnost do izseljenstva," Dve domovini, 2006, 115-132.
Gantar Godina, Irena. "On the Attitude of Slovene Intellectuals in Bohemia and Croatia to Jews," Dve domovini, 2006, 133-143.
________. "Slovenski izobraženci na Hrvaškem po letu 1868: Ivan Stelasa (1846-1921)," Dve domovini, 2006, 153-166.
Gombač, Jure. "Vzponi in padci teorije migracijskih sistem," Dve domovini, 2006, 9-20.
Milač, Metod M. "Letna Konvencija Društva za slovenske študije: Washington, D.C. 16-19 november 2006," Ameriška domovina 2 November 2006, pp. 16-17.
________. [Book Review]: Dr. Peter Vodopivec, Od Pohlinove slovnice do samostojne države: Slovenska zgodovina od konca 18. do konca 20. stoletja. (Ljubljana: Modrijan, 2006). Ameriška Domovina, 15 February 2007, pp. 13-15 (prvi del), 11 March 2007, pp. 13-14 (drugi del).
________. "Prizadevanja in uspehi šestih desetletij Peskega zbora Korotan", 1. Konferenca slovenskih glasbenikov iz sveta in Slovenije, Nova Gorica/Gorica, 13. - 15. September 2006. Zbornik. Svetovni slovenski Kongres/Slovenian World Congress, Ljubljana 2006.
Plut-Pregelj, Leopoldina and Carole Rogel. Historical Dictionary of Slovenia. 2nd edition. Historical Dictionaries of Europe, No. 56. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2007. (On-line ad)
Wachtel, Andrew Baruch. Remaining Relevant after Communism: The Role of the Writer in Eastern Europe. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006.
Žitnik, Janja. "Kulturni položaj priseljencev v Sloveniji: dejavniki in pokazatelji," Dve domovini, 2006, 87-113.
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The Bulletin of the Slovene Ethnological Society (S.E.D., or Glasnik slovenskega etnološkega društva), Volume 46/ 3,4 celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the journal. A large part of the issue is dedicated to the ethnologist Slavko Kremenšek and his work. Three Society for Slovene Studies members have contributed to this special S.E.D. edition: Breda Čebulj-Sajko, Ingrid Slavec Gradišnik, and Marija Kobčar. Articles are in Slovene, and there are English abstracts.
Blumenwitz, Dieter. Okkupation und Revolution in Slowenien (1941-1946): Eine voelkerrectliche Untersuchung. Vienna: Boehlau Verlag, 2005.
Kolar, Bogdan. Slovenian Priests and Priests of Slovenian Descent in the Catholic Communities of California. San Francisco: Educational and Dramatic Club & Ljubljana: Salve, 2004, 190pp.
Mencej, Marija. Coprnice so me nosile: Raziskava vaškega čarovništva v vzohodni Sloveniji na prelomu tisočleta (Witches Led Me Astray. Research of Village Witchcraft in Eastern Slovenia at the Turn of the Millennium). Župančičeva knjižnica: Ljubljana, 2006. Articles in Slovene with English summaries.
Ramet, Sabrina P. and Danica Fink-Hafner (eds.) Democratic Transition in Slovenia: Value Transformation, Education, and Media. College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 2006.
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Donald Patierno, the U.S. Advocate for the International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF), a humanitarian, non-profit organization devoted to the eradication of landmines in mine affected countries in South-Eastern Europe, contacted the Society a few months ago asking for the Society's assistance with his organization.
The ITF was established by the Slovenian government in 1998, with headquarters in Slovenia, to assist Bosnia and Herzegovina with its landmine problem and to help landmine survivors. The ITF channels funds given by donor governments to landmine-related projects, and since 1998 has provided more than $100 million in help to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. The ITF also enjoys support from the Slovenian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Patierno expressed interest in making presentations on the ITF and its work to our Society. The Society's Executive Council came to the decision that as our mission is academic in nature, we cannot offer him direct assistance, but that the ITF's work has relevance to our Society's mission and thus offered to announce its work in the Newsletter to our members.
Interested Society members can contact Mr. Patierno at the following address:
Donald Patierno
International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance
4310 Mission Court
Alexandria, VA 22310
Tel: 571-238-1483
E-mail: dpatierno@cox.net
Veronica Aplenc
Home to one of North America's stronger Slovene collections, the University of Washington Library in Seattle seeks to expand its retrospective collection of Slovene books and journals published from the 1800s to 2000. Members of the Society and their acquaintances who are seeking a good home for personal libraries that might otherwise fall into disuse are encouraged to contact the UW Libraries' Slavic and East European studies librarian, Michael Biggins, at mbiggins@u.washington.edu, by phone at (206) 543-5588, or by mail at the University of Washington Libraries, Box 352900, Seattle WA 98195.
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The fifth winner of the annual Rado L. Lencek Graduate Student Prize was Gregor Kranjc, of the University of Toronto. The award for his paper, "Ljubljana is Beloved, but Are Slovene Films?: Globalization and the Inability of Slovene Films to Foster a National Dialogue on the Experiences of World War II," was announced at the annual meeting in November 2006.
The submission deadline for the $1000US 2007 Graduate Student Prize is 15 September 2007. Please see the web page (http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/~ljubljan/gradprize.html) for further details.
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The submission deadline for the $500US 2007 Undergraduate Essay Prize is 15 September 2007. Please see the web page (http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/~ljubljan/undergradprize.html) for further details.
IREX offers grants and fellowships that apply to both Slovene scholars wanting to work in the United States and US scholars wishing to work in Slovenia. Deadlines for most are in November and December. For more information, contact IREX at: International Research & Exchange Board, 1616 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006; Tele: (202) 628-8188 -- Web site: http://www.irex.org/ Email: irex@irex.org
The Fulbright Scholar Program application deadlines for 2008-2009 awards have passed. For information, visit their general web site at http://www.cies.org. A site with information specifically related to Slovenia and things Slovenian is at http://slovenia.usembassy.gov/fulbright_scholarship.html.
The Kenneth E. Naylor Young Scholar's Prize is offered for the best unpublished paper by a young scholar on a topic in South Slavic and Balkan Linguistics. It has a value of $500US. For full information, get the PDF file at http://www.ling.ohio-state.edu/~bjoseph/NaylorPrize/
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President (to 1 March 2010): Timothy Pogacar (Bowling Green State University) ( pogacar@bgnet.bgsu.edu)
Past President: Metod M. Milač (Syracuse University) (mmilac@syr.edu)
Secretary: Michael Biggins (University of Washington) (mbiggins@u.washington.edu)
Treasurer: Carole Rogel (The Ohio State University) (Rogel.1@osu.edu)
Program Coordinator: Veronica E. Aplenc (University of Pennsylvania) (vaplenc@yahoo.com)
Editor, Slovene Studies: Timothy Pogacar (Bowling Green State University) (pogacar@bgnet.bgsu.edu)
Book Review Editor: Donald F. Reindl (University of Ljubljana) (donald.reindl@guest.arnes.si)
Editor, SSS Letter: David F. Stermole (Toronto, ON, Canada) (stermole@chass.utoronto.ca)
WebMaster: David F. Stermole (Toronto, ON, Canada) (stermole@chass.utoronto.ca)
Stefan J. Kapsch (Reed College) (to 1 March 2008) (stefan.kapsch@reed.edu)
Marta Pirnat-Greenberg (University of Kansas) (to 1 March 2008) (mpg@ku.edu)
Joseph Derdzinski (USAFA) (to 1 March 2009) (joseph.derdzinski@usafa.af.mil)
Peter Vodopivec (Institute of Contemporary History) (to 1 March 2010) (Peter.Vodopivec@inz.si)
Marta Pirnat-Greenberg (University of Kansas) (mpg@ku.edu) Publicity Committee (PC)
For further information regarding the Society for Slovene Studies,
membership applications, journal subscriptions, and other details,
contact:
Michael Biggins
Society for Slovene Studies
Suzzallo Library, Box 352900
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195
email: mbiggins@u.washington.edu
Submissions for the SSS Letter should be sent to:
David F. Stermole, Editor SSS Letter
25 Hoseyhill Crescent
Scarborough, Ontario
Canada M1S 2X3
email: stermole@chass.utoronto.ca
Created: 18 Mar 2007
Last Updated: 15 August 2007
Was to be Finalized: 1 April 2007