Autobalkanism as a Source of Cultural Empowerment
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Date
2022-04
Authors
Enriquez, Erica Arlene
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This work aims to analyze the importance of popular music during and after the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. An in-depth look at the lyrical content of popular turbo-folk songs provides the basis for the exploration of a cultural identity shared by Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia following the dissolution of Yugoslavia during that decade. Attitudes and opinions of individuals from all three countries are considered to evaluate the extent to which the birth of distinct sovereign nations diminished the significance of a shared regional Balkan identity. The concept of a shared identity is explored to question the validity of the assessment of the turbo-folk genre as negative and instead proposes a reevaluation of its role in Balkan identity vis-à-vis Western Europe.