Cultural Identity Politics in the (Post-)Transitional Societies

Cultural Identity Politics in the (Post-)Transitional Societies
domains of cultural sociology, cultural policy analysis or cultural studies. Statistical data,
on the other hand, indicate significant correlations between economic expansion and
traditional cultural ties among the countries involved. For instance, Austria is the largest
foreign investor in Slovenia and one of the most important investors in SEE. The largest
part of Slovenian foreign investment goes to Serbia and a significant part (one sixth) of
Slovenian exports goes to SEE. As stressed in a book on cultural identities of the Western
Balkans/SEE recently published by the Peace Institute Ljubljana, “the contemporary
political reality of Europe is characterized by incessant attempts to link the political and
economic integration of Europe with the cultural aspect of Europeanism”. 4
Cultural changes in the SEE cultures – as part of rather complex social, economic and
political changes in transitional countries of the SEE region – encompass reformulation
of cultural values, modernization of cultural practices and cultural identities, and growth
of cultural productions, as well as increased cultural communication and exchange,
particularly in the regional and European contexts. It might be that such changes are
reflected in the supposed redefinition and reconstruction of cultural identities and in a
new social role for cultures that increasingly stand for cultural creativity and interaction,
rather than for the representation of national values. The nature and outcomes of these
transitions are maybe felt in everyday life and practices, but they still remain only
partly visible in research and analysis of cultural identification. A reliable theoretical
account of transitional changes and of cultural transition practices is indeed needed
in all SEE cultures, both at the national and regional levels. The time span of about
fifteen to twenty-five years of different cultural practices makes the concentration on
cultural identity issues possible and theoretically justifiable. The (re)modelled contexts
of cultural identities oscillate among Europeanization, globalization, regionalization
and nationalism, but also include balancing between regional cultural heritage and
innovative modernity, supported, in particular, by new technologies and increasingly
dynamic cultural communication.
The texts published in this book discuss the three main contextual formats that
position the processes of identity redefinition: I – Histories, memories and national
identities, II – Communication, media and cultural identities, and III – Productivity,
creativity and unstable identities. They have all been developed following the fruitful
discussions at the Conference on Questioning Transitional Dynamics in Redefining
Cultural Identities in Southeastern Europe, held in Ljubljana, on the 15 and 16 January
2011 and presented here in a short report by Jaka Primorac.
Challenges from Democratisation for the EU-Enlargement, 2005; Catherine Samary, Yougoslavie de
la décomposition aux enjeux européens, 2008, etc.
4
Tanja Petrović, A Long Way Home: Representations of the Western Balkans in Political and Media
Discourses, Ljubljana: Peace Institute, 2009.
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