essay

Recounting the dead: the rediscovery and redefinition of wartime massacres in late- and post-Communist Yugoslavia

Memory, history, and opposition under state socialismSanta Fe, New MexicoPublished In 1994 • Pages: 167-184

By: Hayden, Robert M..

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This article discusses the resurgence of nationalism in Yugoslavia, long suppressed under the period of communist rule (1945-1990), and the use by the nationalists of 'secret or hidden histories' relevant to wartime massacres and atrocities first by Germans on Serbs and Croats, then by Serbs on Croats and vice versa, in order to break up and discredit the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (LCY) in each republic and in Yugoslavia itself. 'Thus in Yugoslavia in the 1980s and early 1990s, we can see the invocation and manipulation of hidden and oppositional histories from within and without the state socialist power structure' (p. 168). Hayden describes how the suppressed knowledge of the massacres were used to challenge the version of events that had been carefully constructed and officially approved during the communist period.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
History and culture change
Political behavior
Warfare
Aftermath of combat
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Serbs
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
1997
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Europe
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Southeastern Europe
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
essay
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Ethnologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
John Beierle ; 1996
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
no date
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1980s-1992
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Serbia
NotesAdditional notes
Robert M. Hayden
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
93046594
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Serbs