Традиција у транзицији: У потрази за „још старијим и лепшим“ идентитетом
Tradition in Transition: In a Search for New, ”More Ancient and More Beautiful“ Identity

Author(s): Miroslava Malešević
Subject(s): Anthropology, Social Sciences, Sociology, Politics and Identity, Identity of Collectives
Published by: Етнографски институт САНУ
Keywords: national identity; construction; ”tradition“ revival; native; ”authentic“ culture
Summary/Abstract: The entire transition period in Serbia is marked by the ideology of traditional nationalism. In concordant with the dominant ideology, the general public is still today engaged in so-called ”tradition revival“ maintenance of religion, language, ”true“ Serbian customs and ”authentic“ culture, which are all said to be the foundation of a national identity. Out of which positions and according to whose needs is a collective identity defined, based on these premises? What is the ”true“ Serbian tradition, or what makes a national culture ”authentic“? We argue that every collective identity is a construction, and based on this argument, we will review all the ways that the notion of ”national identity“ (connected inseparable with ”tradition“) has changed during the past few decades and has adopted different meanings depending on the current political climate. More precisely, we discuss this construction that came to be imposed (and excepted), as the authentic Serbian national identity.

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