Constructing national identity in the public space. The discursive transformations of the semiotic-linguistic landscapes of Pristina, Kosovo

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the discursive transformations of the semiotic-linguistic landscapes of Pristina, the capital of Kosovo as brought about by successive sociopolitical transformations and against the reversed power relations of the Albanians and Serbs. The study departs from the underlying assumption that the ethnic Albanian image the cityscape emits today does not coincide with the vision of civic inclusion and multi-ethnicity painted in the Constitution (2008) after the Declaration of Independence (2008). By means of a diachronic examination of successive alterations made to iconic landmark establishments at different political phases in time, it is posited that an appreciation of the contemporary discursive landscape requires an understanding of its dialogic relationship with the past. It is contended that semiotic changes reacted to the past by demarcating barriers that limit access to the previously dominant ethnic other. With reference to the ethnically segregated context of the 1990s in Pristina, attention is brought to the transgressive and invisible dimensions of the landscape for the construction of the city’s identity today.