BESPUĆA MANDARINSKE KULTURE
THE IMPASSES OF MANDARIN CULTURE

Author(s): Igor Marković
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Foruma za etničke odnose
Keywords: Xenophobia; racism; national identity; intellectual elites; multiculturalism
Summary/Abstract: In this paper xenophobia and racism arc thematized from the angle of the collective authoring group Intellectual Cooperative Bastard from Zagreb. Racism and xenophobia, as well as nationalism, have their grounds at the cultural level; political elites legitimate themselves through culture, while the bearers of the idea of nation-states arc intellectuals. The intellectual elite in Croatia, for example, has proclaimed itself to be the „guardian of the past“ and the national identity. In order to retain their mandarin-like position they have identified the interests of the nation with the interests of the „society”. The idea of multiculturality, just like the idea of parliamentary democracy, however, means that there is no agency which a priori possesses the truth of the social interest. This situation may become prevalent only if the intellectual takes on the role of a renegade, a bastard, an observer from the periphery, since from the center itself - the center cannot be seen. The author holds that ready-made, „tailored” identities - particularly national ones - should be avoided and rejected as a troublesome burden of a traumatic past.

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