Post-yugoslavia ― New Cultural and Political Perspectives

Designed as an interdisciplinary scholarly examination of the present-day identities and histories inside and outside the former Yugoslavia, this book explores relationships with the social, political, cultural and historical 'facts and fictions' that have marked the pre, peri and post-war dynamics of different parts of the region. Moreover, this innovative collection further studies the connections that the nations which comprise the former Yugoslavia have with the world and the actors and processes of transformation that are implicated in those relationships both within and beyond the region. The individual contributions address the social, political and symbolic processes by which competing histories and identities are continuously re-imagined and reconstructed, whether in the personal narratives of migrants, in ICTY courtrooms, in spaces of religious worship or in the offices of politicians. Collectively, the contributors show that while nationalism is still a relevant force other social dynamics and the narratives about them have a significant influence on individual countries as well as the region as a whole. The result is an extremely evocative volume that is an important read for students and scholars of political, social and cultural issues in the former Yugoslavia.

Dino Abazovic is Associate Professor of Sociology of Religion at the University of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina where he is also been Director of the Human Rights Center as well as coordinating the Religious Studies Program of the Center for Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Studies. He has published number of chapters and papers in English and South-Slavic languages, three books and edited five volumes. In 2012 Abazovic was awarded a research fellowship at Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS).

Mitja Velikonja is Professor of Cultural Studies and Head of the Research Centre for Cultural and Religious Studies at University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He is the author of 7 books of which 4 have been translated into English and 3 into Serbo-Croatian. He has been a visiting professor at numerous insitutions including Jagiellonian University, Poland and Columbia University, USA. He has also a past recipient of the Erasmus EuroMedia Award from the European Society for Education and Communication.