Browsing by Subject "Yugoslavia"

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After the archive : framing cultural memory in ex-Yugoslav collections
(2013-12) Kotecki, Kristine Elisa; Cvetkovich, Ann, 1957-; Carter, Mia; Hoad, Neville; Kuzmic, Tatiana; Shingavi, Snehal
Upon Yugoslavia’s breakup into five successor states in the 1990s, its national archives also divided according to the new national borders. This re-ordering of institutional history took most dramatic form in the systematic destruction of the archival records held by Bosnia-Herzegovina; incendiary shells destroyed the holdings of its National Library in 1992. In contrast to the national divisions that “balkanized” and obliterated the archives, ex-Yugoslav compilations draw works from and about the region together. This dissertation analyzes the collections that formed as “alternative archives” in response to Yugoslavia’s dissolution and tracks how individual works within these collections are translated and reframed as they circulate internationally. It argues that distinct texts gathered together into the unit of the collection can effectively convey the complexity and contradiction of ex-Yugoslav cultural politics. Whereas compilations of texts of texts identified as representing various nationalities approximate international alliance through unities such as “internationals women’s solidarity,” “European unification” and “Yugoslav reunification,” close reading of the texts juxtaposed within the collections can also complicate the progressive solidarity that frames them. Ex-Yugoslav collections of print and film, and the situated interpretations they engender, provide a rich archive of responses to the post-Cold-War transition toward globalization and Europeanization in the midst of ethnic and religious extremism. In this project, I describe the “collection” as the product of gathering individual texts together, arranging them, and framing them with a unifying narrative. Literary anthologies, library archives, museum exhibits and film programs at festivals thus all function as collections, or archives, of cultural materials formed during and after Yugoslavia’s dissolution. I argue that the works in these collections reflect forms of organization and alliance that disrupt the common sense of existing geopolitical alignment and put pressure on normative desires for a post-Yugoslav future based on European attachments.
Autobalkanism as a Source of Cultural Empowerment
(2022-04) Enriquez, Erica Arlene
Cultural Warfare: Balkanization, Turbo-Folk, and the Croatian Response to Serbian Nationalism
(2021-05) Rostami, Hasti (Aryana)
Following the death of Josip Broz Tito in 1980 Yugoslavia was faced with a series of political and social uprisings and challenges that lasted for nearly two decades. The struggle for independence as well as nationalistic movements transformed the Balkan region not just in its politics and the economy but also in its culture. With the rise of nationalism, the music industry of the Balkans took a new route and a new music genre emerged to be known as Turbo-Folk. The paper examines the rise of Turbo-Folk alongside Serbian nationalism, its impact on the culture and music of the region, and the Croatian response to Turbo-Folk and Serbian aggression and aims to offer a better understanding of this music genre’s use during its political period and study the artistic aspects of the cultural movements that it caused across the Balkan region.
“Deutsche zeitung” the hopes and fears of a new minority : a German language newspaper in Yugoslavia, 1926-1937
(2018-06-26) Severts, Cameron Simpson; Liu, Amy H.; Jordan, Bella B
The purpose of this research is to identify the key interests, themes and fears related to ethnic German minorities in the former Yugoslavia between World War I and World War II. The research analyzes hundreds of editions of Deutsche Zeitung, a German-language newspaper printed in Yugoslavia from 1926 to 1937. The newspaper acts as a window through which one can gain insights into the experiences of a group of people who, in the aftermath of the First World War, found themselves to be a new minority in a newly-formed country. In order to understand the experiences of this new minority, this research tracks the format, language and recurring themes of the newspaper as its print run spanned a very politically turbulent period that slowly marched Southeastern Europe to war and ethnic cleansing.
Land of the in-between : modern architecture and the State in socialist Yugoslavia, 1945-65
(2009-05) Kulić, Vladimir; Udovički-Selb, Danilo
Land of the in-between explores how modern architecture responded to demands for political and ideological representation during the Cold War using socialist Yugoslavia as a case-study. Self-proclaimed as universal and abstract, modernism acquired a variety of specific meanings hidden behind seemingly neutral forms that, however, frequently contained decidedly political dimensions. During the Cold War, Yugoslavia deliberately positioned itself halfway between the Eastern and Western blocs, thus representing an excellent case for a study of shifting political meanings ascribed to architecture at that time. This dissertation follows two lines of investigation: transformations of architectural profession, and changes in the modes of architectural representation of the state. Consequences of two key moments are explored: the rise to power of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in 1945, and its expulsion from the Soviet bloc in 1948. These two moments correspond to two distinct phases that shaped architecture in socialist Yugoslavia: a period of intense Stalinization immediately after WW II, and a period of gradual liberalization after the country's sudden break-up with the Soviet Union. During the short-lived Stalinist period, the regime subjected Yugoslav culture to the doctrine of Socialist Realism. But after 1948, the state relaxed its iron grip, allowing for a degree of intellectual and artistic freedom. At the same time, Yugoslavia reestablished friendly relations with the West, opening itself to influences of Western culture. The revival of modern architecture that followed was in return instrumental in reinforcing Yugoslavia's new image of a reformed Communist country. Land of the in-between argues that Yugoslavia's political shifts gave rise to a uniquely hybrid architectural culture. It combined Communist ideology with Western aesthetic and technological influences to create a mix that complicated the common black and white picture of the Cold War. Architecture in socialist Yugoslavia thus operated within a complex framework of shifting political and cultural paradigms whose contrasts highlight the meanings that post-World War II modernism assumed on a global scale.
“Neki Dječaci (Some Boys)” : narratives of homoromanticism and homosexuality in Yugoslav popular music of the 1980s
(2017-05) Jorgensen, Laura Kristine; Seeman, Sonia Tamar, 1958-; Moore, Robin D
In the region of the former Yugoslavia, religious leaders and anti-LGBT activists claim that homosexuality is not native to the area but rather is an import from the west, and they use such rhetoric to commit and incite violence against queer communities. However, a history of homosexuality in the region has long been supported by evidence from social and religious practices, legal code, and sexology. In a contribution to that history, this reports explores interpretations and implications of popular music narratives that also reference the existence of homosexual desire, people, and culture in Yugoslavia. Following the decriminalization of (implicitly male) homosexuality in some regions of Yugoslavia in 1977, many of the country’s most popular rock and pop bands released songs with lyrics, sounds, and even videos which implicitly or explicitly draw on narratives of homosexual desire. The majority of these artists did not publicly identify themselves as homosexually-desiring or active, nor were they involved with the nascent local gay cultural and political movement of the 1980s; their narratives appear to be imagined fantasies of the kinds of situations and emotions experienced by those with homosexual desires. Regardless of the songwriters and performers’ own sexuality, such narratives serve as a recognition of homosexual desire and communities in the region, and ex-Yugoslav fans and listeners have claimed these songs as a meaningful part of their local history of homosexuality. Less well known is the new wave ( novi val) band Borghesia, whose members were among the most active organizers of that gay movement and whose songs and videos more explicitly and personally express non-normative desires and lives. While Borghesia was not as famous as Yugoslavia’s rock stars, they were the first openly queer artists in a region that now has a thriving and growing queer musical subculture. By referencing or representing homosexual desire through musical narratives across the spectrum of popular styles, all of these artists contributed to a record of homosexuality in the former Yugoslavia.
The sweetness and bitterness of émigré cinema : Dušan Makavejev’s Sweet movie and The Coca-Cola kid
(2021-07-27) Jurkovic, Michael Zivko; Beronja, Vlad, 1984-; Gopalan, Lalitha
Dušan Makavejev is considered to be perhaps the most significant film director from the former Yugoslavia. Makavejev’s career had three distinct phases: Yugoslavia; emigre cinema; and his return to Yugoslavia. The bloody dissolution of Yugoslavia has unfortunately obfuscated his contributions to film as a medium and his legacy has been marginalized and ignored in English-language scholarship. Compounding this is the fact that discussions of his career generally center on his earlier films which were made in Yugoslavia. This thesis focuses on two of his three films from his emigre period: Sweet Movie (1974) and The Coca-Cola Kid (1985). Before this analysis, a literature review of major sources in English is done as well as brief discussion of these earlier films. His emigre period is discussed in terms of his career trajectory; geopolitical realities; and aesthetics of the films. The last aspect is drawn out using Dimitris Eleftheriotis’s Cinematic Journeys: Film and Movement to conceptualize these films as road movies. Despite the road movies framework, the analysis of the films is largely from a cultural studies perspective. These two films stand at stylistic extremes, yet have underlying similarities and preoccupations related to wider themes present throughout all of Makavejev’s career. Sweet Movie and The Coca-Cola Kid are stridently anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist. They are also concerned with youth; sugar, sweetness, and consumption; and social commentary on careers and animals. These films are concerned with global systems of analysis and thinking; the movies are challenging authoritarian impulses and are calls for greater freedom and individual agency. While Sweet Movie has been discussed extensively, The Coca-Cola Kid in particular is undertheorized. The Coca-Cola Kid is resituated within his career and juxtaposed to the aesthetically richer Sweet Movie. The thesis ends with a suggestion for further analysis on the second, emigre phase of Makavejev’s career as well as a suggestion for analysis on the third phase of his career