engleski

The new paths and travels of ojkanje singing

Ojkanje is an archaic singing tradition spread in parts of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. As the historical sources and literature show, in Croatia it involved an interethnic exchange between Serbs and Croats, therefore moving across potential cultural boundaries of the two ethnicities. Since the Plitvice region, in which I conducted my field research, has a relatively fresh history of conflicts between Serbs and Croats, the war-induced changes affected this tradition as well. The majority of Croatian Serbs left their country after the war, carrying the knowledge of Ojkanje from their old homes to the new ones. In 2010, Ojkanje was inscribed on the UNESCO’s “List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding” as the Croatian asset. The UNESCO’s inscription consequently raised the question of ethnic “ownership” over Ojkanje among both Serbs and Croats, but also stimulated its revival within both ethnicities, living inside or outside of Croatia.

Croatia-Plitvice, identity, diaspora, ojkanje, UNESCO

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