article
Dismembering Yugoslavia: nationalist ideologies and the symbolic revival of genocide
American ethnologist • 21 (2) • Published In 1994 • Pages: 367-390
By: Denich, Bette.
Abstract
In this article Denich deals with the ideological and historical context under which the practice of 'ethnic cleansing' evolved, with a focus on the symbolic dynamics of genocide as a critical underlying issue in the ethnic war that began in Croatia in 1991 and spread to Bosnia-Herzegovina in the following year. Croatia's extermination policy directed against the Serbs, developed during World War II. This policy is examined in terms of the history and structural logic of mutually exclusive nineteenth century Serbian and Croatian nation-state ideologies. The post-Titoist era rebirth of these ideologies was involved with symbolic revivals of both the wartime Croatian state and the memory of genocide, which had very different meanings for Serbs and Croats. 'The 'forgotten' burial sites of massacre victims provided a powerful reservoir of traumatic memory, subject to manipulation on the part of all who seized the 'disjunctive moment' to reconstitute the state according to nationalist definitions' (p. 367).
- HRAF PubDate
- 1997
- Region
- Europe
- Sub Region
- Southeastern Europe
- Document Type
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- John Beierle ; 1996
- Field Date
- 1987-1990
- Coverage Date
- 1987-1992
- Coverage Place
- Serbia
- Notes
- Bette Denich
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 386-390)
- LCCN
- 74644326
- LCSH
- Serbs