Cultural Identity Politics in the (Post-)Transitional Societies

Cultural Identity Politics in the (Post-)Transitional Societies
When we are talking about the “reconstruction and re-identification of nationally and
ethnically structured cultures” and the “establishment of a new cultural context that
coincides with the cultural diversity framework largely influenced by the globalization”
(Švob-Đokić, 2011), this apparently successful transition from and transformation
of “nationally and ethnically structured cultures” in East European countries tends to
follow traces of Leon Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance. Namely, according
to Festinger, ideologies that no longer match circumstances are reinterpreted by their
believers until they appear to match them again. Some national stories from our region
are just reinterpreted and disguised as now successful and promising European-type
stories. In a certain way, we still exist on the border line between two incomplete
states: remnants of the old system of values and fragments of the unfinished new one.
Therefore, the key question and a key challenge is: how can we function in an open,
participative, internationally recognized and appreciated manner but at the same time
keep some distance, keep ourselves as different
There is an example which comes from popular culture or the entertainment industry
but which is illustrative of how certain identity shifts are happening. We are witnessing
the great success of Turkish soap operas throughout the region and not only here. We
may imagine and construct a certain hidden political background or intention behind
the success of these popular or populist projects – certain Wikileaks documents related
to the Turkish state authorities have even discovered a possible serious political agenda:
the renewal of old Turkish political interests and aspirations in the Balkans – or we may
simply talk about the impact of this TV programme on the popularization of Turkey as a
tourist hot spot with direct economic benefits. But why have this particular programme
or product and its protagonists become so popular here at this moment Does it mean
that our public space has become so saturated with Latino soap operas that we simply
need to change one exotic Other for another one Does it mean that we deliberately
choose Turkish soap operas as an efficient tool to pacify an important segment of our
history among the broadest population Does it mean that we need to find some new,
undiscovered and previously unexploited regional unifying factor What would be that
efficient unifying factor that all of us search for Would it be proof that a particular
Oriental Other, existing like we do between traditionalism and nationally marked
culture on the one hand and an adoption of Western societies’ values of modern life
and integration into European political and other structures on the other, becomes
the promoter of those values by living them and by practising them in the everyday life
of the broadest population Would it be proof that we all share the same big goal, the
same strivings, to become equal participants and beneficiaries of one, global, unifying
culture which would release us from the burdens of our tradition and national cultural
values But, do things really function according to that logic Could we imagine that
this fascination with the shift from traditionalism towards modernity of a Western
kind among “non-Westerners” could discover something else, something paradoxically
different Through “individualization of our choices”, and by choosing Western values
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