In Search of Spatial Perceptions: The Balkans as A Vernacular Region

The Balkans are still an imprecisely defined and relatively unknown area in southeastern Europe. They are a historical-political term, often provoking negative associations that are synonymous with underdevelopment, backwardness, and primitiveness. This research is aimed primarily at exploring how the Balkans are perceived by students of geography in Zagreb and Maribor and what associations they provoke. It further seeks to investigate whether the Balkans are primarily a cognitive construct that is spatially determined on an individual level, based on an individual's own insights, attitudes, values, and other determinants. Therefore, a questionnaire survey regarding perceptions of the Balkans was conducted. The results indicate that the Balkans can be seen as a sort of vernacular anti-region: the kind from which states in or near its boundaries attempt to exclude themselves, while simultaneously trying to include their neighbors to the south and east.