Slavic studies (North America), Slavonic studies (Britain and Ireland) or Slavistics (borrowed from Russian славистика or Polish slawistyka) is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, Slavic languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist (from Russian славист or Polish slawista) or Slavicist was primarily a linguist or philologist researching Slavistics, a Slavic (AmE) or Slavonic (BrE) scholar. Increasingly historians and other humanists and social scientists who study Slavic area cultures and societies have been included in this rubric.
Slavistics emerged in late 18th and early 19th century, simultaneously with national revivals among various nations of Slavic origins and with 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 (1753-1829).
The history of Slavic studies is generally 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 circle formed around August Schleicher (1821-1868) and around August Leskien (1840-1916) at the University of Leipzig.
After World War I Slavic studies scholars focused on dialectology, while the science continued to develop in countries with large populations having Slavic origins. After World War II there developed centres of Slavic studies, and much greater expansion into other humanities and social science disciplines in various universities around the world. Indeed, partly due to the political concerns in Western European and the United States about the Slavic world nurtured by the Cold War, Slavic studies flourished in the years from World War II into the 1990s and remain strong (though university enrollments in Slavic languages have declined since the 1990s).
Slavic countries and areas of interest
By country:Belarus: language, literature, culture, historyBosnia and Herzegovina: language, literature, culture, historyBulgaria: language, literature, culture, historyCroatia: language, literature, culture, historyCzech Republic: language, literature, culture, historyMacedonia: language, literature, culture, history, MacedonisticsMontenegro: language, culture, historyPoland: languages (Polish, Kashubian, Silesian), literature (Polish, Kashubian), culture, historyRussia: language, literature, culture, historySerbia: language, literature, culture, history (national and ethnic)Slovakia: language, literature, culture, historySlovenia: language, literature, culture, historyUkraine: language, literature, culture, historyOther languages: Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, Kashubian, Polabian, Rusyn, Old Church SlavonicHistoricalContemporaryJournals and book series
Archiv für slavische PhilologieThe Russian ReviewSarmatian ReviewSlavic Review, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic StudiesStudies in Slavic and General LinguisticsThe Slavonic and East European ReviewScando-SlavicaAmerican Association for the Advancement of Slavic StudiesFormal Approaches to Slavic LinguisticsInstitutes and schools
AcademicInstitute for Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, RussiaJan Stanislav Institute of Slavistics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, SlovakiaInstitute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of SciencesUniversityInstitute of Slavonic Philology, University of Silesia, PolandInstitute of Slavonic Studies, Jagiellonian University, PolandDepartment of Slavic philology, University of Belgrade, SerbiaDepartment of Slavistics, University of Novi Sad, SerbiaUCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, United KingdomInstitute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, University of California at Berkeley, United StatesInstitute for Slavistics, University of Vienna, AustriaInstitute for Slavistics, University of Graz, AustriaDepartment of Slavic Studies, University of Salzburg, AustriaInstitute of Slavic Studies, Heidelberg University, GermanyInstitute of Slavic Studies, University of Mainz, GermanyInstitute of Slavistics, University of Potsdam, GermanyInstitute for Slavic Studies, Humboldt University, GermanyInstitute of Slavic Studies, Tbilisi State University, GeorgiaInstitute of Slavic Studies, University of Pécs, HungaryResource Center for Medieval Slavic StudiesOtherOld Church Slavonic Institute, Zagreb, Croatia