Cultural Identity Politics in the (Post-)Transitional Societies

Foreword
as demonstrated in the same research. While two thirds of respondents in Macedonia
expressed their belonging to the Balkan region, only one third of respondents in
Serbia opted for that kind of regional identification. Even in Istria, which is known
as a multicultural and ethnically mixed peninsula, similar research showed that only
a quarter of respondents (from Slovenian Istria) think that a “common culture of
Slovenian Istria” exists. 2 Thus, both Europeanization and regionalization processes in
SEE raise an important research question: do these processes (significantly) influence
the possible redefinition and reconstruction of cultural identities in the direction of
ethnically and nationally non-exclusivist cultures
In the field of cultural production, heterogeneity of cultural identities in SEE is not
generated only in relation to “national cultures” but also in relation to specific segments
of these cultures. An illustrative example might be ex-Yugoslav neo avant-garde art
practices from the late 1960s and early 1970s and alternative culture from the 1980s.
These predominantly amateur art and cultural practices have developed their identities
in opposition to the presupposed professionalism of the then cultural elite. Their
amateurism was not a bad copy of professional art practices; it was not about mimicking
elite culture in the sense of the dilettante actor, musician or painter. It was rather about
radical intervention in the cultural, social and political spheres of Yugoslav society. Possible
examples of this kind of alternative culture in cultural production in the former Yugoslavia
between the 1960s and 1980s are, for instance, punk music and experimental 16mm film
production in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as alternative video production in the 1980s,
neo avant-garde theatre and radical performances, alternative theoretical production and
similar. Nowadays the picture is quite different: previous “radical amateurism” has been
significantly professionalized through the process of so-called “NGOization” of voluntary
work. This process of professionalization, typically represented by the non-governmental
organization (NGO) cultural sphere, has created a relatively new context not only in
terms of cultural production, but also in terms of cultural preferences and identification
of its audiences. Not only do these processes in the cultural NGO sphere require an
interdisciplinary approach to the subject, but also contemporary socio-economic trends
in general. Identity politics are interconnected with labour relations within various
productive units (such as factories, newspapers, universities or theatres) which determine
workers’ life strategies and identity orientations, but it holds true also vice versa.
Social and cultural aspects of the investment policies in the context of Europeanization
of the former socialist countries have provoked some interest among researchers of
social and economic histories 3 but only a sporadic response from researchers in the
2
“National and Cultural Identity in the Area of Slovene-Italian Cultural Contact in European
Integration Processes”, in: Kulturna identiteta Istre (Cultural Identity of Istria), Ljubljana:
Slovenska matica, 2008.
3
E.g., Hannes Hofbauer, Osterweiterung: Vom Drang nach Osten zur peripheren EU-Integration,
2003; Detlef Pollack et al., Values Systems of the Citizens and Socio-Economic Conditions –
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