On Oblivion: the Case of Yugoslavian Monopoly

Abstract

This article on the Yugoslavian version of the board game Monopoly is based on the assumption that things make people. In accordance with this a concept, the contribution begins with a historical overview of the development of this game in the United States, from its origins when it spreads around the country as a popular game, to the current day, when Monopoly is marketed a leading corporation in the field of board games, Hasbro. The popularity of the game is also evident from its presence in the public space in the form of metaphors: because of its emphasis on trading, it is sometimes referred to “greed”, and in the Balkans it can also serve as a metaphor for the nation state.In the memories of my interlocutors who helped me with their testimonies, the Yugoslav version of Monopoly is associated with pleasant memories: especially of childhood, youth and relatives or friends with whom they used to play the game. In my interviews I focused on two topics which did not play such a significant role in the testimonies of the interlocutors, but were, however, common in the testimonies of interviewees who got acquainted with the game as children: to the question of the supposed superiority of Slovenia, as Bled and Bohinj were the most expensive properties, and the presumption that Monopoly is a game which can reproduce cultural memory, in this case knowing the geography of the former common state. The thesis on Slovene superiority proved to rely on generations to which my interviewees belonged, since it appeared especially in the answers of the interlocutors who were born in the late 1980s. Hence, I assume that this thesis was more likely a projection of the outside reality of my interlocutors into the game than vice versa.Analysing the answers of my interlocutors more thoroughly, I reached the conclusion that Monopoly often appeared as the first reference through which they heard about a certain resort in the regions of the former Yugoslavia. This means that Monopoly contained traces of cultural memory which other sources of our everyday lives, education and upbringing ceased to transmit.