Imagining the Balkans, Imagining Germany: Intellectual Journeys to Former Yugoslavia in the 1990s

Abstract

Mitten in Europa, in Hor- und Sichtweite von Italien, Osterreich und Griechenland findet ein Krieg statt [...] -Peter Schneider, Bosnien 57 The question of exact location of Yugoslavia was hotly debated in Germany during 1990s. If, for example, Sarajevo was in as writer Peter Schneider insisted in citation above, then this was a war demanding intervention. More often than not, however, one or all warring parties were described as being Balkan, reducing conflict to yet another war driven by region's supposedly characteristic, deeply rooted hatred between various ethnic groups which would render intervention fruitless. Often, two toponyms were used interchangeably allowing for more complex positionings of self and other. This article concerns itself with of such imaginary cartographies in accounts of four journeys to region published in German media. It explores ways in which authors draw borders between a European self, more often than not defined as civilized, democratic, and tolerant, and a Balkan other, generally defined as primitive, violent, and racist. At same time, this debate never truly concerned itself with identities, Western or otherwise, but rather constituted a way of exploring complex renegotiation of identities in contemporary Germany. Germany itself was undergoing a dramatic transformation process coping with integration of eastern Germany, revival of neo-Nazi politics, and increased racism against migrants. It is therefore perhaps not surprising that Germans preferred to turn their attentions to former Yugoslavia, where transformation process had sparked extreme nationalism and racism leading to disintegration of region. This study examines ways in which in/exclusion in Europe is established through representation of various Yugoslav regions via mapping of its boundaries and description (or lack thereof) of its inhabitants and their culture. At same time, such descriptions of cultural affinities shared between region in question and traveler's country of origin, usually generalized as West or Europe, is an important device in situating traveler within his own intellectual culture, while at same time reinforcing superiority of certain values over others. Eastern Europe's role in affirming true Europeanness of Western Europe has been clearly shown by Larry Wolff who argued that notion of Eastern Europe as shadowed lands of backwardness, even barbarism was invented in Enlightenment as a complement to Europe's civilization, a term appropriated by Europe to describe itself (4). While this construct survived into 20th century, it received its strongest possible reinforcement through Iron Curtain which followed contours of Enlightenment division. Ultimately, success of Cold War disguised the fact that division of Europe was also an ongoing work of intellectual artifice and cultural construction (Wolff 370). In recent years, scholarly attention has been directed at study of Balkans and discourses at work both within and outside region. In her path-breaking study Imagining Balkans, Maria Todorova makes a convincing case for existence of a distinct discourse of balkanism which clearly delineates between former Ottoman territories and rest of Europe. While she insists on existence of a concrete entity, historically shaped by Ottoman rule, Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek has observed that the Balkans are always somewhere else (3). This idea has been developed more fully by Bakic-Hayden who coined expression nesting orientalisms to express gradation of Orients', between Europe and Balkans, but also between states themselves. The discourse is therefore appropriated both inside and outside of Balkans to construct difference and sameness. …