INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON DOSITEJ OBRADOVI

13/10/2011

A three-day international gathering, entitled DOSITEJ OBRADOVIĆ IN SERBIAN HISTORY AND CULTURE, dedicated to a famous protagonist of Serbian enlightenment, writer and philosopher, Dositej Obradović (1742-1811), has been opened in Belgrade and is to wind up on October 15 with a discussion on topics in theology in the Serbian Orthodox monastery of Krusedol, on Mt Fruska gora. More from Milena Gluvačević.

Not only has the work of Dositej Obradović lost none of its significance or value today, but his words are gaining momentum in these times, said the president of Matica srpska, Čedomir Popov, opening the gathering. He added that today, more than ever, society and people need Dositej’s messages in order not to sink into hopelessness and in order to preserve their moral and spiritual essence.

Dositej’s life and work show us how to overcome prejudice and how to catch up with those who are more successful and progressive than we are, said Education and Science Minister Žarko Obradović, adding that his teaching, according to which the best progress is reached when the values of one’s own nation and tradition are linked with the progressive aspirations and achievements of modern civilization, is still topical today.

More than 60 participants have applied for the gathering, 20 of whom from abroad. The seminar is divided into thematic units: history, pedagogy, philosophy, literature and language. The topics to be discussed include: Dositej in the Context of the 18th Century European Enlightenment and Serbian Culture and Spirituality, Dositej in the First Serbian Uprising, Dositej’s View of the Liberation of the Serbs in the Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries, Dositej’s Cultural System for the Restored Serbian State of Karadjordje, Dositej’s Political Thought and the Comparison of Various Political System, Dositej’s Travel Writing, Dositej as a Researcher, Dositej’s Essays, Fables and Private Letters as Sources of Practical or Life Philosophy, Dositej’s Concept of Education and Science in the Balkan Region, the Roots of Dositej’s Enlightenment, Dositej’s Ideas in the Epistolary Form, Dositej as a Moral Model, Dositej’s Theory of Taste, etc.

Speaking of the gathering, the head of the Dositej Obradović Foundation, Mirjana Dragaš, told our radio their intention was to have modern scholars shed a new light on the work of this famous writer and erudite. The gathering is held in the year when we celebrate the bicentennial of Dositej’s appointment first minister of education in Serbia and the bicentennial of his death. The Foundation was established with a view to preserving his work, bringing him closer to young generations and help them build new values based on messages stemming from his work, Dragas said.

Dositej Obradovic was also the first minister of education in Serbia and the writer of a hymn to Serbia, entitled “Vostani Serbije” (Rise, Serbia). He died in 1811 and was buried within the Belgrade Orthodox Cathedral. The seminar is organized by the Dositej Obradović Foundation, Matica srpska and the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Science.

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