Cultural Identity Politics in the (Post-)Transitional Societies
Cultural Identity Politics in the (Post-)Transitional Societies
Cultural Identity Politics in the (Post-)Transitional Societies
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<strong>Cultural</strong> policies, identities and monument build<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> Sou<strong>the</strong>astern Europe<br />
- burial policies and commemorative policies;<br />
- government decisions regard<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> national symbols (an<strong>the</strong>m, flag or o<strong>the</strong>r<br />
<strong>in</strong>signia to represent national identity).<br />
With<strong>in</strong> policies of memory <strong>in</strong> Sou<strong>the</strong>astern Europe that <strong>in</strong>fluence <strong>the</strong> collective<br />
consciousness, monument policies are most often used. Through a monument erected<br />
<strong>in</strong> a public space <strong>the</strong> message is easily transferred to <strong>the</strong> community; it enables political<br />
promotion (PR); it gives “face” to new values; it demonstrates power; it gives an illusion<br />
of creat<strong>in</strong>g someth<strong>in</strong>g for eternity; it facilitates representation; it provokes “<strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r”;<br />
it controls “<strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r”, and so forth.<br />
This paper will deal with monument policies <strong>in</strong> Sou<strong>the</strong>astern Europe <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> period<br />
of transition, nationalistic upris<strong>in</strong>gs, wars and divisions. Through explor<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong><br />
reconstruction of memories through official and populist monument projects, from<br />
Kosovo polje <strong>in</strong> 1989 to <strong>the</strong> Alexander <strong>the</strong> Great monument <strong>in</strong> Skopje <strong>in</strong> 2010, <strong>the</strong><br />
research will try to prove <strong>the</strong> misuse of memories and historical representations as a form<br />
of hate speech, and to deconstruct this manipulation of memories used to create a new<br />
“national”, ethnic memory employ<strong>in</strong>g monuments as a strategic tool.<br />
We will also study art and artists challeng<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> official policies of “monumentalization”<br />
of historical memories by creat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong>ir own monument projects. Monuments as artistic<br />
projects, permanent or ephemeral, are part of <strong>the</strong> culture of dissent, but also platforms<br />
for debat<strong>in</strong>g and present<strong>in</strong>g major cultural policy issues.<br />
The methodology of <strong>the</strong> research will be based on categories identified by Kodrnja et<br />
al. (2010) and Slapšak (2009), re-adapted and fur<strong>the</strong>r developed for <strong>the</strong> needs of this<br />
research. Thus we identified three different models of strategy and monument policy<br />
applied <strong>in</strong> different phases of <strong>the</strong> postsocialist transition:<br />
- <strong>the</strong> model of anti-culture:<br />
- destruction (annihilation) strategy and strategy of oblivion<br />
- appropriation (renam<strong>in</strong>g and re-contextualization) strategy<br />
- strategy of ignor<strong>in</strong>g “<strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r”<br />
- strategy of provocation of “<strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r”<br />
- <strong>the</strong> model of “culturalization”:<br />
- monument build<strong>in</strong>g with<strong>in</strong> new identity policies<br />
- decontextualization (universalization) strategy<br />
- musealization of <strong>the</strong> heritage of “<strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r” (policies of respect)<br />
- “gratitude” strategy<br />
- <strong>the</strong> model of dissent – creative dialogue:<br />
- counter-culture strategy, strategy of oppos<strong>in</strong>g with<strong>in</strong> one’s own culture.<br />
The research will take <strong>in</strong>to account major monument projects <strong>in</strong> countries of<br />
33