Negotiating ‘Serbhood’: Layers of memories among the Serbs in the post-Yugoslav and postwar space

This project examines the interaction between individual memories of interethnic violence in the Yugoslav Wars and the politics of memory channeled through grand ethnonationalist narratives among people of Serbian ethno-national origin in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo directly affected by warfare. Utilizing a novel blend of top-down and bottom-up perspectives, it analyzes how collective identification linking Serbian communities across the post-Yugoslav space has been (re)constructed using the notion of ‘Serbhood.’ It explores how this frame has been communicated to the Serbian public and investigates the limits and possibilities of individual memory expressions within this overarching image of communion. By analyzing the interplay between various layers of memory, this research extends beyond the perpetrator /victim dichotomy, aiming to shed light on the dynamics fostering a sense of belonging among Serbs residing outside Serbia. This endeavor applies to analogous post-conflict contexts where the relationship between perpetrators and victims is ambiguous and complex.

Project team of FSV UK (4)

doc. PhDr. Ondřej Žíla, Ph.D.

Principal investigator

Petr Čermák

Team member

Barbora Chrzová

Team member

PhDr. Karin Roginer Hofmeister, Ph.D.

Team member

+420 267 224 269

karin.hofmeisterova@fsv.cuni.cz

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