What is culture? What is literature? And how these two most important phenomena correlate and intertwine , and why are they important in todays globalized and digitalized world?This subject is designed to increase students understanding of Cross-Border Literature, which is the main field of the contemporary literature. Understand important political ideas and concepts related to cross-border literature, like migration, identity, cultures, and borders. Analyze how the most important and popular literary texts show and discuss themes of cultural interactions and the impact of borders on society and modern day politics.Next, the student will learn how to use strong analytical skills to interpret and critisize literary text and their position in the modern day politics of borders. Focus on storytelling techniques, themes, and how authors represent experiences related to borders and migration. Evaluate how different writers portray the complexities of identity, language, and cultural conflicts.The student will learn the way to use different methods for interpreting the literature, such as "close reading" and "digital tools". Exploring case studies will lead to greater understanding of diverse viewpoints of the same reality that people share and enhance the knowledge of intercultural texts.The last but not the least, the student will learn to apply modern theoretical ideas, like transculturality and post-colonialism, when analyzing literature. During the classes we will engage with concepts from important scholars and incorporate these ideas into thier literary analysis.

Questions of the methodology of the cross-border study of literature turns into a discussion about the problems of contemporary notions of the centre and margin, migrations, identity, post-colonialism, border studies, languages in contact, politics of Slavic languages, nonstate, regional, minority languages etc.Depending on the interest and number of participants lectures will be organized face to face, from giving instructions for the reading materials, in depth analyses of texts, close reading, interpretation, critical examinations, interviews, group discussions, guests of critics or colleagues can be organized with the topics of critical reception and criticism.  Case studies of specific literary works and authors that exemplify the themes of migration, identity, languages in contact, and border studies. Students can analyse how these works address and represent cultural intersections and conflicts.During classes we will develop scenarios where students assume the identities of authors, critics, or characters from intercultural texts. This can help them understand different perspectives and the complexities of identity and migration. The student can provide the story of experiencing borders and identity challenges. Students will be encouraged to review each other's work, providing constructive feedback. The classes will incorporate digital tools to analyse and visualize data and might include creating digital maps of identities of the writers, using texts uncover patterns in intercultural literature. In addition, we will utilize movies, documentaries, podcasts, and online resources to complement the reading materials.

In the construct of contemporary intercultural science of literature, issues of intercultural hermeneutics for intercultural research are not only posed as a central methodological challenge, but also as an epistemological challenge. Covering a wide range of topics related to cross border studies, trough modern authors from the twenty-first, twentieth, and nineteenth century from Post-Yugoslav, African, Eureopean, and World literature this course will offer fragments and excerpts from the texts  (and movies) of a wide cross-border experiences in literature and language:  Aleksandar Hemon – The Question of Bruno Junot Diaz-The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Chinua Achebe-Things fall apart Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie-The thing around your neckStefan Zweig-The World of Yesterday Danilo Kiš-Birth Certificate Milan Kundera-A Kidnapped West: The Tragedy of Central Europe Germaine de Staël- On Germany  Predrag Matvejević-Mediterranean: A cultural landscape and Des Balkans Diana Mishkova-Beyond Balkansim Tomasz Kamusella-Politics and the Slavic Languages, etc...Movie: The lives of others  (Das Leben der Anderen)However, in addition to the cognitive function of intercultural interpretation, this subject also has its empirical "communication base" in the occurrence of texts (that is, authors and works, magazines and readers, literary criticism) of intercultural value, so it is necessary to (re)examine the assumptions of cross border interpretation of literature, especially with regard to the increasingly widespread appearance of inter- and transcultural literature ("foreign literature", literature of national minorities, emigrant literature and nomadic literature, multinational or post-Yugoslav literature, minority languange, regional language, nonstate language, etc.).Within the scope of the course, attention will be paid to the modern theoretical literature on the concepts of border and frontier, as well as other discourses related to these concepts: transculturality, interculturality, multiculturalism, as well as the concepts of transnationality, identity, the relationship between the centre and the margin, the area of the Balkans as a frontier space in Europe, Central Europe, Mediterranean, and other spatial concepts etc... The crossborder subject will put to the test the famous quote “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” by Ludwig Wittgenstein in his Tractatus logigo-philosphicus, that was criticized by Ingeborg Bachmann. 

No expected prior knowledge

Bhabha, Homi K., 1949-. The Location of Culture. London ; New York :Routledge, 2004.Said, Edward W. Orientalism. Penguin Classics, 2003.Wastl-Walter, D. (ed.), 2011, The Ashgate Research Companion to Border Studies, Farnham: Ashgate.Wilson, T. M., and Donnan, H. (eds.), 2012, A Companion to Border Studies, Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.Febvre, L., 1922, La Terre et l’évolution humaine. Introduction géographique à l’histoire, Paris, Albin Michel; English translation by E. G. Mountford and J. H. Paxton, A Geographical Introduction to History, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1925.

Oral exam and a presentation:Oral exam: Individual or group oral exams will be given to assess students’ verbal articulation of ideas, critical thinking and the knowledge of literature.Presentation: Students will present their research findings of analysis of specific texts covered in the classroom.

Choose a presentation topic from the authors listed in the curriculum (1,or 2, or 3): 1.Present a digital project that maps the identities and journeys of writers studied in the course.2.Create a multimedia presentation analyzing the portrayal of multiculturalism in a prefered literary work. 3.Conduct a comparative analysis of how different authors address the theme of post-colonialism in their works.

Understanding of key concepts of Cross border studies: Demonstrates a clear understanding of key concepts, theories, and themes discussed in the course.Analysis and interpretation: Provides insightful analysis and interpretation of the texts, including identification and explanation of literary devices, themes, and narrative techniques.Evidence and examples: Uses specific examples from the texts to support arguments and interpretations.Clarity and coherence: Presents ideas in a clear, logical, and coherent manner with well-structured paragraphs and transitions.