Politics of Identity in Serbia [Hardcover]

Ivan Colovic (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0814716253 | ISBN-13: 978-0814716250 | Publication Date: September 30, 2002

"These thought-provoking essays on the Serbian ethno-myth make this book a valuable contribution to the literature on the former Yugoslavia."
—The Journal of Slavic Military Studies

"The newspaper articles . . . offer incisive, ironic, and often witty analyses of nationalist discourse found in a wide variety of texts, including political speeches."
— Slavic Review

Symbols are central to politics. In this groundbreaking work, Ivan Colevic investigates the symbols of politics and the politics of symbols in Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Hercegovnia. The first part of the work, "The Serbian Political Ethno-Myth," analyzes Serbian political mythology about the nation and nationalism in particular, as well as the role of narratives in political discourse, and notions of time, nature, borders, heroism, and national identity.

The second part, "From the History of Serbian Political Mythology," is concerned with the historical development of Serbian political myths. The third part, "Characters and Figures of Power," comprises case studies which analyze political symbolism, myth, rhetoric, and propaganda. These studies are based on examples gleaned from the Serbian press, academic texts and literature, political speeches, and from everyday life.

Finally, Colevic investigates the relationship between the masses, mass culture, and politics, including the recruitment of soccer fans into the war in the former Yugoslavia, and how symbolic communication was used by Serbia's anti-Milosevic opposition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Ivan Colevic, leading anthropologist and cultural critic, specialist in cultural symbols, is himself the greatest symbol of the decency, respectability, humor, and guts of a small but important group of Belgrade intellectuals."-, -Maria Todorova,author of Imagining the Balkans

About the Author

Ivan Colevic is one of the most widely respected social theorists from the former Yugoslavia. This is the first translation of his work in English.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: NYU Press (September 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814716253
• ISBN-13: 978-0814716250
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,317,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars a wasted opportunity by Colovic, July 17, 2005

By 

highduke (T.O, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Politics of Identity in Serbia (Hardcover)

Because I'd read the British edition which was translated correctly as "The Politics of Symbol in Serbia", I didn't get what I bargained for. What I hoped would be an analysis of crowd psychology and nationalism, turned out to be a political polemic against the Milosevic regime and the kind of nationalism that allegedly brought that regime to power. Thus, the translation of the US edition: "Politics of Identity in Serbia: Essays in Political Anthropology" is really an incorrect translation of the original Serbian title. However this is actually a good thing, since the title of Colovic's book in Serbian is "Politika Simbola u Srbiji" - that isn't a good title at all to describe the subject matter of this book.

Colovic doesn't believe in genetics, nor in ethnic identity, ethnic nationalism or religion. He advises the Serbs to abandon all of these and after doing so, they will soon be among the prosperous nations of Europe. The book is devided up into 30 or so 5 page essays on various topics and happenings in Serbia in the 90s. Most of Colovic's examples and subject matter come from the extreme Serbian right. This means more to the right of the mainstream nationalism in Serbia represented by the Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj and Milosevic and his Socialists. The problem is that Colovic portrays this extreme right as being mainstream. It is like analyisng contemporary right-wing America by mostly using white supremacists as examples.

Interesting parts for which I gave it two stars are a scathing critique of the Orthodox Church hierarchy and insightful analysis of crowd psychology at soccer games. Though Colovic is rarely quoted by anybody, when he is, he is mostly quoted about the latter. Everything else was political polemic and unbalanced criticisms of the general society by using examples from its extreme fringe elements. Do not watse your time on this book. If you want a book about crowd psychology, without a political agenda, read "Crowds and Power" by Elias Canetti.