Viđeni tuđim očima: reprodukcija orijentalizama i interni balkanizam među Albancima i Južnim Slovenima u bivšoj Jugoslaviji
Seeing Each Other: Nesting Orientalisms and Internal Balkanism among the Albanians and South Slavs in the Former Yugoslavia self-perceptions

Author(s): Atdhe Hetemi
Subject(s): Cultural history, Political history, Politics and society, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Inter-Ethnic Relations, Politics and Identity, Peace and Conflict Studies
Published by: KPZ Beton
Keywords: Albanians; Balkanism; Former Yugoslavia; Orientalism; Serbs; West;
Summary/Abstract: The article examines the role of the Orientalist and Balkanist discourse in the Former Yugoslavia with a particular focus on Albanians. Here, Western Orientalist and Balkanist stereotypes of the Former Yugoslavia are examined arguing that the Orientalism and Balkanism of peoples living in the Former Yugoslavia is and was viewed differently from Western standards and by the peoples living in the Former Yugoslavia in the way how they perceive each other. In addition, this article analyzes the perceptions of Albanians living in the Former Yugoslavia, both in the sense of how they defined themselves and how they were viewed by the South Slavic majority. Methodologically, the article relies on three seminal works that shall serve as pillars of this theoretical analysis: concepts of Edward Said’s “Orientalism, ”Milica Bakic-Hayden’s theories on “nesting Orientalisms” in the Balkans, and Maria Todorova’s analysis of the external practices of representation of the Balkans.It is argued that these authors provide a useful theoretical framework for exploring the distribution of the Orientalist and Balkanist discourses in Former Yugoslavia.

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