Cultural Identity Politics in the (Post-)Transitional Societies

Cultural Identity Politics in the (Post-)Transitional Societies
In this region, new states have been established and social and economic systems
are being radically changed. Now, in the post-transitional perspective, an unstable
terminology and a search for “flexible” approaches still characterize the cultural
identification processes that may be gaining ground over the previous stress on national
identification. It seems that the understanding of cultures and their social roles has
been slowly moving from orientation to political and ideological issues to a multilayer
cultural identification closer to the understanding of culture as a general human
“know-how” that involves historical contexts, similar values, collective memories and
other aspects that need not be limited to ethnic origins and social or geographical
belonging. Cultural identity resides in the interpretation of culture as a system of values
that is in principle open to communication and exchange. It is therefore flexible and
changeable itself. Cultural identities function as general backgrounds and thus provide
a set of values that an individual or a group may establish, develop and reinterpret as
their own. This presupposed move towards more flexible and open interpretation of
cultural identification may be a valuable subject for further research in the context of the
transitional social changes in the Southeast European region.
The transitional interplay of cultural and national identities intervenes in the character
of both and designs their relationships. After the dominant shock of nationalism and
national identification in the last decade of the 20 th century, it seems that national
identities have gradually been overshadowed by new cultural values and more open cultural
communication. It could be said that, in the context of post-transitional developments,
individual and collective identification may proceed towards standpoints that are transand
intercultural, more tolerant and based on the acceptance of cultural diversities, cultural
democratization and the professionalization of cultural production. In this respect the key
positions of artists and authors necessitates “a more propulsive social role of intelligentsia”
(Maja Breznik) and radical reforms of cultural systems. In the regional frameworks this
is reflected as an increased cultural tolerance and the overall democratization of cultural
relationships, but also as a proportionally decreased cultural communication that has
become almost exclusively oriented to European cultural settings and is strongly supported
by efforts invested in the Europeanization of the Southeast European countries.
Any attempt to “Europeanize” societies in this region should include the knowledge
and discussion of cultural identities. The information about existing approaches and
attitudes coming from different sources may be illustrative in this respect.
For instance, in a recent research conducted on representative samples in several SEE
countries, approximately 40% of respondents in Serbia and Macedonia stated that “their
own culture and tradition are endangered by influences of values coming from European
countries”. 1 Regional and cultural identities are relatively dynamic social phenomena,
1
Nikola Božilović, Kultura i identiteti na Balkanu (Culture and Identity in the Balkans), Niš:
Filozofski fakultet, 2007.
4