Дело Косте П. Манојловића на „таласима сећања“
The Oeuvre of Kosta P. Manojlović on the “Waves of Memory”

Summary/Abstract: Within the humanities, numerous instances corroborate the assertion that research motivation is not invariably rooted in science per se, but can also be engendered by diverse “external” stimuli. Contemporary manifestations of this phenomenon frequently arise from the significant challenges of globalization, which persistently foreground questions concerning the importance of culture and the politics of social memory/remembrance within scientific, artistic, economic, political, and broader public discourse. Impelled by various stimuli, the current surge of intensified interest in the past, or the “memory boomˮ (as termed by the American historian Jay Winter – cf. Winter 2007), commenced during the emergence of postmodernity. In the scientific discourse, its prevalence is evidenced by the emergence of memory studies, a quickly growing interdisciplinary field dedicated to these issues (Bajović 2012: 94), to which researchers from Serbia also contribute. The versatile musical contributions of Kosta P. Manojlović (Krnjevo, December 4, 1890 – Belgrade, November 2, 1949), a pivotal and highly influential figure in the evolution of Serbian and Yugoslav musical culture up to the mid-20th century, yielded significant, pioneering, and foundational outcomes across numerous domains. Notwithstanding this substantial impact and the considerable temporal distance since his passing, Serbian musicology and ethnomusicology have paid him insufficient scholarly attention. Fortunately, the situation exhibits a positive trajectory of change, particularly from the late 20th century onwards. The aforementioned transformation, as presented in this paper, can be directly correlated with the presence of the postmodernist “wave of memoryˮ within our academic community. The extensive professional engagement of Kosta P. Manojlović within Serbia and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia commenced in 1919, following his return to the homeland after studies at Oxford, and persisted for three decades until his demise. The prosperous interwar period, during which he had the opportunity for full self-expression and professional development, was succeeded by an era of unavoidable stagnation during the Second World War. Subsequently, he lived for several more challenging postwar years under the stringent communist regime, wherein he was perceived as a representative of the so-called old reaction and persona non grata, which consequently lead to his compulsory retirement as early as 1946. As a result of this stigmatization, works on Manojlović in Serbian musicology and ethnomusicology were scarce until the pivotal year of 1990, when a collection of works, published by the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, commemorated the centenary of his birth. During this period, significant global political transformations (the fall of the Berlin Wall, the cessation of bloc divisions, the dissolution of the USSR, the end of the Cold War) coincided with the collapse of the communist regime in the SFR Yugoslavia, the introduction of a multiparty system, widespread societal democratization, and the disintegration of the common state of the South Slavs. Concurrently with the postmodernist memory boom, these and other political events served as crucial catalysts in Serbia for a rapid increase in studies dedicated to national themes, the revision of the past, the redefinition of national identity, the attribution and re-evaluation of cultural achievements, and related subjects. Based on an examination of the scholarly output concerning Kosta P. Manojlović from 1990 to the present day, several other impetuses for this “wave of memoryˮ within Serbian musicology and ethnomusicology have been identified, including the evolution of scholarly thought, the expansion of the academic workforce, the cultivation of a culture of remembrance, and the advancement of information technology. This case study paradigmatically demonstrates that research motivation need not invariably be of a strictly scientific nature – notwithstanding prevailing assumptions to the contrary – and that it can itself constitute a subject of scholarly inquiry, yielding valuable insights.

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