lvaylo Ditchev

The Bulgarian Ivaylo Ditchev, born in 1955, holds a double-professorship at the University of Sofia: a full-professorship for Cultural Theory and The History of Culture as well as an assistant-professorship in European Studies. In addition, since 2000 he has held the Chair for Sociology at the University of Nanterre in Paris. In 2002 Ditchev was named a member of the »Verband der Balkan-Anthropologen« [Union of Balkan Anthropologists]. His wide-ranging activities in cultural-anthropology and political sciences have been documented in numerous publications – such as, »Eroticism of Authorship« (Sofia 1991), »Albanian Utopia: Behind Closed Doors in the Balkans« (Paris 1996), »To Give Without Losing: Exchange in the Imaginary of Modernity« (Paris 1997) and »The Gift in the Epoch of Its Technical Reproducibility« (Sofia 1999). Moreover, he has published as journalist and editor numerous essays on themes related to the cultural changes in Europe. The most important question dealt with therein concerned the collective memory and the cultural successors. A particular thematic focus is the subject of European eastward expansion, especially in the Balkans. In addition, Ditchev has paid special attention to cultural politics and national identity in communism and post-communism. In preparation, a long essay on nationality in post-communism will be published soon.