Abstract
The “geography” of the Balkans is “prisoner” to a double discursive “incarceration”: externally, within the field of balkanism and internally, within the national paradigm. “Geography” is a symbolically inscribed region, and the Balkans’ historical legacy defines the region as a specific “geography,” however national paradigm defines historical legacy. If the national paradigm were abolished, this would rupture the chain of top-down signification and leave the geography open to a multitude of intersecting histories. To this end, this essay examines two canons of national paradigms: those of Benedict Anderson and Maria Todorova. Central to each paradigm is the incommensurability thesis of nationalism and racism, race, and nationality. To argue the opposite to their thesis – that modern nations are racial formations, that nation is not imagined but rather racialized communities – this essay strategically uses “race” to show how the national paradigm recycles Eurocentric colonial amnesia and inscribes the Balkans “geography” as raceless.
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