Neither “East” nor “West”: The Past and Present Life of Yugoslav Identity
Neither “East” nor “West”: The Past and Present Life of Yugoslav Identity

Author(s): Zala Volčič
Subject(s): Sociology of Culture, Post-Communist Transformation, Sociology of Politics
Published by: Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (CAS)
Keywords: Serbia between East and West;
Summary/Abstract: The above research explores questions about the ways in which group identities are formed, and the functions that they serve. It simultaneously recognizes that it is not just the legal statutes, but also the every-day practices to which they are attached, that define identities of any community. It is this array of cultural and symbolic resources that I am interested in developing further in my article. I focus here on how and which generational (and class) distinctions are understood, negotiated and put to work by actors themselves. Through in-depth interviews with young Slovenian and Macedonian intellectuals from the last Yugoslav generation I explore the perception of Yugoslav identities and I argue for its understanding as a hybrid. I suggest that understanding it as a hybrid helps to unveil the complexities of social reality, its diverse and multiple dimensions, the overcoming of traditional/modern/postmodern models, and at the same time, it resists the boundaries and dichotomies (neither/nor).

• Details
• Contents