The Home is Where…: The Chronotopes of the Origin Myth in Pseudohistorical Narratives of the Serbian Far-Right

Igor Išpanović

doi:10.21428/e3990ae6.9b81f1fc

Abstract

The Home is Where…: The Chronotopes of the Origin Myth in Pseudohistorical Narratives of the Serbian Far-Right

Highlights

The mythical evocation of the distanced past is one of the essential attributes of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes (Sviličić & Maldini, 2014; Stanley, 2019)
I rely on Bakhtin’s concept of chronotope, which posits the influence of time-space conjuncture on identity, to follow the plurality of cultural and mythical narrative threads woven into the national fabric
The findings indicate that the discursive practice of “homeland making” serves as a compensation for the dissolution of a supposedly ethnically homogenous and culturally related entities – Republic of Srpska, Montenegro and Kosovo, territories perceived as national and spiritual cradles of Serbia

Summary

Introduction

The mythical evocation of the distanced past is one of the essential attributes of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes (Sviličić & Maldini, 2014; Stanley, 2019). Fifty years later, nationalist discourses that appeared during the Yugoslav wars relied heavily on loose interpretations of historical events for the purposes of the turbulent present. These storytelling practices were important to the creation of new national identities – as Eco Vague the concept of populism may be, with author Ernesto Laclau (2005) even considering this ambiguity its intrinsic quality, the essence of this political ontology is the construction of a dominant, hegemonic social bloc Be that as it may, the instability of such structures enables dynamic, fluid and vapory political shifts, resulting in the simplification of the democratic processes and electoral mechanisms. The hierarchy of newsworthiness on social media platforms, which favours intense emotions, reactions and conflicts, is perfectly compatible with the ‘shameless normalization of impoliteness’ of populist leaders (Wodak, Culpeper & Semino, 2020)

Objectives

Discussion

Conclusion