Yugonostalgia: Study of Remnants of the Former Yugoslavia in Metropolitan Detroit
Abstract
The creation of a Yugoslav state and its collective memory was highly influenced by the state imposed cultural policies. While the nation itself violently collapsed in the 1990s, whereby creating a large victim diaspora, in the aftermath, its population recalls it as an economically and politically stable and safe, a phenomenon deemed as Yugonostalgia. This paper seeks to present and critically observe the current multigenerational existence and interpretation of Yugonostalgia through theoretical perspectives and field work in Yugoslav Detroit Diaspora, while explaining its past, current, and future discourse as a product of collective memory.References
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[39] Petrovic, Nikola. "Istrazivanje o najadekvatnijim oblicima secanja na proslost i nacinima za uspostavljanje poverenja na prostoru bivse Jugoslavije." Temida, 2010: 59-71.
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[41] Potrata, Barbara. "New Age, Socialism and Other Milleniarianisms: Affirming and Struggling with (Post)socialism." Religion, State and Society, 2004: 366-379.
[42] Saavedra, G. Agostini. Nostalgia for a redeemed future; critical theory. Edited by Stefano Giacchetti Ludovisi. University of Delaware Press, 2009.
[43] Said, Edward W. Reflections on Exile. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003.
[44] Sarkisova, Peter Apor and Oksana, ed. Past for the Eyes: Museums and Cinema in Reshaping the Communist Era. CEU Press, 2007.
[45] Sekulic, Dusko. "The Creation and Dissolution of the Multinational State: The Case of Yugoslavia." Nations and Nationalism, 1997: 165-197.
[46] Stewart, Susan. On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection. Durham: Duke University Press, 1993.
[47] Svetlana, Slapsak. "Nostalgija." Vecer, 2008: 52.
[48] Tölölyan, Khachig. "Diaspora studies, Past, present and promise." Oxford: International Migration Institute, April 2012.
[49] Tölölyan, Khachig. "The Contemporary Discourse of Diaspora Studies." Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East , 2007: 647-655.
[50] Ugresic, Dubravka. Kultura lazi: Antipoliticki eseji. Belgrade: Samizdat B92-Konzor, 2002.
[51] Ugresic, Dubravka. "The Confiscation of Memory." New Left Review, 1996: 26-39. —. The Ministry of Pain. US Edition. Translated by Michael Henry Heim. New York: HarperCollins, 2006.
[52] Velikonja, Mitja. Titostalgia. Ljubljana: Peace Institute, 2008.
[53] Volcic, Zala. "Post-Socialist Recollections: Identity and Memory in Former Yugoslavia." In Heritage, Memory, and Identity, edited by Helmut Anheier and Yudhishthir Raj Isar, 187-198. SAGE, 2011.
[54] West, Richard. Tito and the Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia. Basic Books: New York, 1996.
[55] Yugonostalgia. Diplomatic Observer, March 25, 2011.
[56] Zimmerman, Warren. Origins of a Catastrophe: Yugoslavia and Its Destroyers - America's Last Ambassador Tells What Happened and Why. New York: Times Books, 1996
[2] Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 1991.
[3] Avishai, Margalit. The Ethic of Memory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University of Press, 2002.
[4] Bilefsky, Dan. "In ex-Yugoslavia, Tito-era nostalgia." New York: The New York Times, January 27, 2008.
[5] Bourdieu, Pierre. Language and Symbolic Power. Cambirdge : Polity Press, 1991.
[6] Boym, Svetlana. The Future of Nostalgia. New York: Basic Books, 2001.
[7] Bringa, Tone. The Peaceful Death of Tito and the Violent End of Yugoslavia. New York: Berghahn Books, 2004.
[8] Brubaker, Rogers. "The 'diaspora' diaspora." Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2005: 1-19.
[9] Ceric, Salim. O Jugoslovenstvu I bosanstvu: Prilog pitanju jugoslovenska nacionalnost ili jugoslovenski socijalisticki patriotizam. Sarajevo: NIP Oslobodjenje, 1968.
[10] Cohen, Robin. Global Diasporas; an Introduction. 2nd. New York: Routledge, 2008.
[11] Cosic, Dominika. Back to the future with Yugo-nostalgia. Warsaw, October 22, 2009.
[12] Djokic, Dejan. Yugoslavism: Histories of a Failed Idea 1918-1992. London: Hurst & Company, 2003.
[13] Donia, Robert an Fine, John V.A. Bosnia and Hercegovina: A Tradition Betrayed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994.
[14] Dusko Sekulic, Garth Massey, Randy Hodson. "Who Were the Yugoslavs? Failed Sources of a Common Identity in the Former Yugoslavia." American Sociological Review, 1994: 83-97.
[15] Frykman, Maja Povrzanovic. "Transnational Perspective in Ethnology: From 'Ethnic' to 'Diasporic' Communtiies." 77-100.
[16] Grillo, R. D. "Cultural Essentialism and Cultural Anxiety." Anthropological Theory, 2003: 157-153.
[17] Grujic, Marija. Community and the Popular: Women, Nation and Turbo-Folk in Post-Yugoslav Serbia. Partial Doctoral Fulfillment, Budapest: CEU ETD Collection, 2009.
[18] Gupta, Akhil, and James Ferguson. "Beyond "Culture": Space, Identity, and the Politics of Difference." Cultural Anthropology, 1992: 6-23.
[19] Guzina, Dejan. "Socialist Serbia's Narratives: From Yugoslavia to a Greater Serbia." International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, 2003: 91-111.
[20] Hage, Ghassan. "Migration, Food, Memory, and Home-Building." In Memory: Histories, Theories, Debates, edited by Susannah Radstone and Bill Schwarz, 416-427. New York: Fordham University Press, 2010.
[21] Halbwachs, Maurice. The Collective Memory. New York and London: Harper & Row, 1980 [1951].
[22] Herzfeld, Michael. Kulturna intimnost. Belgrade: XX Vek, 2004.
[23] Hobsbawm, Eric. The Invention of Tradition. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
[24] Joppke, Christian. Citizenship and Immigration. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2010.
[25] Jurkovic, Jasmina. "Trgovanje Titom [Trading Tito]." In O Titu kao mitu , edited by Nevena Škrbić Alempijević and Kirsti Mathiesen Hjemdahl, 277-299. Zagreb: Filozofski fakultet, Srednja Europa, 2006.
[26] King, Charles, and Melvin Neil. "Diaspora Politics." International Security, 2000: 108-138.
[27] Kuhn, Anette. "A Journey Through Memory." In Memory and Methodology, edited by Susannah Radstone, 183-186. Oxford: Berg, 2000.
[28] Lampe, John R. Yugoslavia as History: Twice there was a Country; 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
[29] Leydesdorff, Mary Chamberlain and Selma. "Transnational families: memories and narratives." Global Networks, 2004: 227-241.
[30] Liberty, Radio Free Europe Radio. "Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty." May 4, 2010. http://www.rferl.org/content/Interview _Tito_Symbol_Of_Better_Times_For_ExYugoslavs_Historian_Says/2032075.html (accessed September 3, 2012).
[31] Lobjakas, Ahto. Interview: Tito 'Symbol Of Better Times' For Ex-Yugoslavs, Historian Says. May 4, 2010. http://www.rferl.org/ content/Interview_Tito_Symbol_Of_Better_Times_For_ExYugoslavs_Historian_Says/2032075.html (accessed September 3, 2012).
[32] Lowenthal, David. The Past is a Foreign Country. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
[33] Majstorovic, Stevan. Cultural Policy in Yugoslavia; Self-management and culture. Paris: UNESCO, 1980.
[34] McRobie, Anes Makul and Heather. "Yugoslavs in the twenty-first century: ‘erased’ people." www.opendemocracy.net. February 17, 2011. http://www.opendemocracy.net/heather-mcrobie-anes-makul/yugoslavs-in-twenty-first-century-%E2%80%98erased%E2%80%99-people (accessed September 3, 2012).
[35] Mehta, Coleman. "The CIA Confronts the Tito-Stalin Split, 1948–1951." Journal of Cold War Studies, 2011: 101-145.
[36] Nora, Pierre. "Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Memoire." Representations, 1989: 7-25.
[37] Pauković, Davor. "Posljednji kongres Saveza komunista Jugoslavije: uzroci, tijek i posljedice raspada [Last Congress of League of Communists of Yugoslavia: reasons, course, and consequences of the disintegration]." Suvremene teme : Contemporary Issues, 2008: 21-33.
[38] Perović, Jeronim. "The Tito-Stalin Split: A Reassessment in Light of New Evidence." Journal of Cold War Studies, 2007: 32-63.
[39] Petrovic, Nikola. "Istrazivanje o najadekvatnijim oblicima secanja na proslost i nacinima za uspostavljanje poverenja na prostoru bivse Jugoslavije." Temida, 2010: 59-71.
[40] Pintar, Olga Manojlovic. "Rat i Nemir- O Vidjenjima Socijalisticke Jugoslavije, Drugog Svetskog Rata u Kome je Nastala i Ratova u Kojima se Raspala." In Novosti iz Proslosti, edited by Vojin Dimitrijevic, 83-126. Belgrade: Beogradski Centar za Ljudska Prava, 2010.
[41] Potrata, Barbara. "New Age, Socialism and Other Milleniarianisms: Affirming and Struggling with (Post)socialism." Religion, State and Society, 2004: 366-379.
[42] Saavedra, G. Agostini. Nostalgia for a redeemed future; critical theory. Edited by Stefano Giacchetti Ludovisi. University of Delaware Press, 2009.
[43] Said, Edward W. Reflections on Exile. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003.
[44] Sarkisova, Peter Apor and Oksana, ed. Past for the Eyes: Museums and Cinema in Reshaping the Communist Era. CEU Press, 2007.
[45] Sekulic, Dusko. "The Creation and Dissolution of the Multinational State: The Case of Yugoslavia." Nations and Nationalism, 1997: 165-197.
[46] Stewart, Susan. On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection. Durham: Duke University Press, 1993.
[47] Svetlana, Slapsak. "Nostalgija." Vecer, 2008: 52.
[48] Tölölyan, Khachig. "Diaspora studies, Past, present and promise." Oxford: International Migration Institute, April 2012.
[49] Tölölyan, Khachig. "The Contemporary Discourse of Diaspora Studies." Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East , 2007: 647-655.
[50] Ugresic, Dubravka. Kultura lazi: Antipoliticki eseji. Belgrade: Samizdat B92-Konzor, 2002.
[51] Ugresic, Dubravka. "The Confiscation of Memory." New Left Review, 1996: 26-39. —. The Ministry of Pain. US Edition. Translated by Michael Henry Heim. New York: HarperCollins, 2006.
[52] Velikonja, Mitja. Titostalgia. Ljubljana: Peace Institute, 2008.
[53] Volcic, Zala. "Post-Socialist Recollections: Identity and Memory in Former Yugoslavia." In Heritage, Memory, and Identity, edited by Helmut Anheier and Yudhishthir Raj Isar, 187-198. SAGE, 2011.
[54] West, Richard. Tito and the Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia. Basic Books: New York, 1996.
[55] Yugonostalgia. Diplomatic Observer, March 25, 2011.
[56] Zimmerman, Warren. Origins of a Catastrophe: Yugoslavia and Its Destroyers - America's Last Ambassador Tells What Happened and Why. New York: Times Books, 1996
Published
2015-08-01
How to Cite
CUKOVIC, Ana.
Yugonostalgia: Study of Remnants of the Former Yugoslavia in Metropolitan Detroit.
Култура/Culture, [S.l.], n. 9, p. 51-61, aug. 2015.
ISSN 1857-7725.
Available at: <http://journals.cultcenter.net/index.php/culture/article/view/132>. Date accessed: 03 mar. 2026.
Section
English Articles
Keywords
Diaspora, Detroit, Yugonostalgia, Cultural Memory, Collective Memory
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