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Nostalgia for Yugoslav socialism and politics of remembrance

The research starting point is the interest in the growing trend of Yugonostalgic phenomena in almost all parts of the former state. Because of the decay of ‘democratic revolutions’ of the nineties (that were actually accompanied by an ideological and a political win of ethno-nationalism, clericalism and neoliberalism) and the state of war of that whole decade, a disappointment in the ‘brave new world’ arised forged by the unfulfilled promises of capitalism. All of these are the conditions in which some narratives of the past can be reaffirmed and become a new political activity. This paper suggests, using the concepts of Svetlana Boym, that to say that such nostalgia is false (that it romanticizes the past) misses the point. On the trace of Baudrillard’s thought, it proposes that the sense of loss, while perhaps misconstruing what was lost, nevertheless is real enough to shape and complicate contemporary understandings of national identity and to haunt the struggle for national autonomy by the former Yugoslav republics.

nostalgia, post-socialism, national identity, visual arts, Yugoslavia

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