Kosovo Serbs Research Articles

Spomenici svetske kulturne baštine na Kosovu i Metohiji - problemi i perspektive zaštite

In 2006, the UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage Committee inscribed four Serbian medieval shrines from Kosovo and Metohija on the World Heritage List, in danger due to difficulties in their preservation and management, as well as the damage they suffered during ethnic conflicts, namely: the Church of Bogorodica Ljeviška in Prizren and the Peć Patriarchate, Dečani and Gračanica monasteries. In accordance with United Nations Resolution 1244, they are currently under the control of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo and Metohija. However, in addition to these monuments, the cultural and demographic identity of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija is illustrated by over 1,500 established cultural assets (monasteries, churches, cemeteries, etc.) that testify to the centuries-old presence of the Serbian people and Orthodox faith in this area and their material and spiritual culture, as works of the overall European cultural heritage created in the intertwining of the influences of Eastern and Western Christianity and culture. The inclusion of these four cultural assets of great importance for Serbia in the international system of protection and monitoring has led to initiating the consideration of a comprehensive and long-term view of cultural heritage in Kosovo and Metohija at the international level as a key element in establishing better cultural and overall relations between Serbs and the Albanian population. The paper discusses the problems and possibilities of improving the protection and presentation of World Cultural and Natural Heritage in Kosovo and Metohija, as well as the expansion of the list, through the integration of international, national and local protection, and understanding of this area as a specific cultural landscape. Presenting the value of the heritage as a comprehensive cultural landscape which combines natural tangible and intangible aspects, as well as the organization of cultural, educational and other activities, would encourage respect for the diversity, integrity and identity of others, which is an unavoidable condition in the process of European integration currently opposed by ethnic groups.

Zlatanović S. Etnička identifikacija na posleratnom području: Srpska zajednica jugoistočnog Kosova. Beograd: Etnografski institut SANU: Čigoja štampa, 2018. 364 s. (Posebna izdanja; knj. 89)

Sanja Zlatanović’s book Etnička identifikacija na posleratnom području: Srpska zajednica jugoistočnog Kosova (Ethnicity in a Post-War Region: The Serbian Community of Southeast Kosovo) provides a valuable picture of the Serbian community of Kosovsko Pomoravlje (South-East Kosovo around Gnilane) during the first years of international rule in the disputed area. The book is based on field research carried out between 2003 and 2006 both in the area and in Southern Serbia with persons displaced from the area. S. Zlatanović describes the subdivisions between “Kosovo old-dwellers” and “Colonists” (of 1920s and 30s); between Serbs and Serbian Gypsies in Kosovo; and between KosovoSerbs and the population of Central Serbia. She also demonstrates the complexity of the Kosovo Serb perception of their neighbours – Kosovo Croats and Kosovo Albanians. The author reviews both the efficiency and limits of the komšiluk (traditional practice of neighbourhood solidarity), cultural similarities with the Kosovo Albanians, and the role of the Raška-Prizren Diocese of the Serb Orthodox Church and its influence upon the community, e. g., by the overcoming of traditional practices of religious syncretism. This ethnological study will be of use both for ethnologists and social anthropologists of the Balkans, as well as for historians and political scientists. The Kosovo Serb identity, their internal subdivisions, and the cultural stereotypes described by S. Zlatanović will exist as a part of the broader Serbian social texture for the foreseeable future.

Albanizmi u srpskim i makedonskim govorima

This paper gives a brief overview of the literature dedicated to Albanian-Slavic contacts, and then compares two approaches to Albanianisms in Serbian and Macedonian languages. One is by Safet Hodža (2001) and the other by Vanja Stanišić (1995). Their studies differ in several aspects. First, in the inventory of processed lexical items. Thus, Hodža analyzed a total of 447, and Stanisic about 300. Then, Hodža represented almost all types of words (313 nouns, 50 adjectives, 48 verbs, 15 adverbs, 9 words and 8 exclamations, 2 conjunctions and 2 onomatopoeias), while Stanišić analyzed 182 lexemes, mainly nouns and a small number of verbs from different areas of human life: cattle breeding and agriculture (36), farming (41), nature and relief (23), house and garden (8), family terminology (8), material culture and mental life (10), abstract concepts, verbs and expressions of psychophysical conditions (56). Stanišić also deals with the Albanian names that are mentioned in the Dečani Hrisovulja (Chrysovulje), but also with a large number of Slavs. Hodža etymologically deals with the words in a separate dictionary section, while Stanišić does that within five thematic groups. In separate chapters, Hodža gives an exhaustive classification according to thematic groups, according to geographical distribution and time of their taking over. Stanišić grouped the words wider, and within the processing of individual words, they are geographically located. The author of this paper also points to other Albanianisms noted by other researchers, but also cites a new inventory of lexemes used by the Serbs in south-western Serbia and Kosovo and Metohia: čuče, čučajka "kukavica (coward) ", rumbulak and rumbulačka "okrugao (round)", šaradžija "testeraš (sawyer)" (from alb. sharrë "testera (saw), šoša "prorešetati (to sift)", vapa "žega, toplota (heat, warmth)", uknačiti (se) "uživati (to enjoy)".

Constitutional and Legal Dilemmas for Establishing the Association of Kosovo Serb Majority Municipalities

This paper examines both the process of, and the constitutional and legal dilemmas in, forming the Association of Serb Majority Municipalities in Kosovo. The association, which aims to be established and has emerged as a demand of Kosovo Serbs, has caused a lot of trouble to the government in establishing it. This paper presents these difficulties and how they commenced. It is shown at the outset that in 2013, Kosovo assumed an international and constitutional obligation to establish this Association. A long time has passed since that year and the association is not established even to this day. The paper shows that this passivity was further cemented by a decision of the Constitutional Court which, instead of explaining the way in which it was formed and competencies used a strange and dubious language. In this paper, however, it is clearly shown that the formation of the Association is an international obligation that Kosovo must fulfill. It is further noted that there is a risk that its formation will take place in a format other than the one envisaged in 2015 as a result of the delay on the side of the Kosovo party. The paper also seeks to point out a deficiency of this entity, which has to do with the fact that the drafting of legal texts on its establishment did not involve local Serbs at all, to whom the Association is supposedly dedicated.

Collective psychological ownership and reconciliation in territorial conflicts

Collective psychological ownership refers to people’s perception that an object, place, or idea belongs to their own group. We considered this concept in the context of territorial conflicts and proposed that (1) collective psychological ownership is distinct from place attachment, (2) higher ingroup identifiers are more likely to claim collective ownership and feel attached to the territory, yet (3) only ownership claims are related to lower support for reconciliation. These hypotheses were tested in two studies using structural equation modelling. Study 1 addressed the Kosovo conflict, based on Serbian participants living in Serbia (N = 264). We found that collective psychological ownership and place attachment were distinct. Moreover, higher Serbian identifiers had a stronger sense of collective ownership of Kosovo and were more attached to it. Those with stronger feelings of collective ownership supported reconciliation with Albanians less, while place attachment did not hinder reconciliation. Study 2 replicated these findings among a new sample of Serbs in Serbia (N = 173), among Serbs in Kosovo (N = 129), and in two other conflict settings: among Greek Cypriots in Cyprus (N = 135) and Jews in Israel (N = 109). Altogether, we provide evidence that collective psychological ownership can represent an obstacle to reconciliation in conflict regions.

National recognition and power relations between states and sub-state governments in international sport

ABSTRACTThis article offers a theoretical reflection about how the power relations within the international political system configure national recognition in the context of sport. Theoretical developments of soft power are complemented with a neoclassical realist approach, due to the fact that countries shape their sports policies and estimate their potential scope and impact according to their relative capacities in the international scenario.The starting point is that states and sub-state governments pursue the same political goals in international sport: influencing international arena through diplomatic strategies, increasing patriotism and the nation´s international prestige through the organisation of sports mega-events, legitimising their – regional or national – governments through medals and victories, etc. However, only the states are initially legitimised to achieve such goals due to the sports statehood, meaning in this context that International Sports Federations and International Olympic Committee define the term country as an independent state recognised by the international community.Analysing the cases of China–Taiwan and Serbia–Kosovo, the conclusion is that without a consensus between the disputing parties, national recognition in international sport will not depend so much on the development of a soft power strategy, but on the relative capacities of countries to impose their political criterion in the United Nations, the International Olympic Committee and the International Sports Federations.

Plemenita engleskinja Adelina Paulina Irbi na Kosovu i Metohiji u Srbiji

This paper is about Adeline Paulina Irby, an English lady. She left deep trace and indelible mark in memory of Serbs from Bosnia and Old Serbia (Kosovo and Metohija). Furthermore, it is focused on her journey through whole "European Turkey" (the Balkans) where she was acquainted with living conditions of the Christians there. She informed England and the whole western world about it. For that purpose, she travelled through Old Serbia-Kosovo and Metohija. Irby broke all the stereotypes Western World adhered to, in the first place stereotypes about "wild Slaves living in the Balkans". Irby presented to English reader the whole truth about Serbian nation whose Empire was conquered by Ottomans. Paper is particularly focused on her humanitarian work.

Javni spomenik kao konstituent kulturnog identiteta Srba na Kosovu i Metohiji

The national and cultural identity of a nation is, among other things, established through the monumental heritage of a certain territory. For Serbs living in Kosovo and Metohija, monuments glorifying the glorious Serbian past (Serbian heroes, rulers, warrior feats) represent a link with the entire Serbian nation and hope for the possibility of survival in that part of Serbia. However, the significance and number of public art monuments in Kosovo and Metohija, as part of the cultural heritage of Serbs, has not been sufficiently researched so far. The exact number of public monuments in the north of Kosmet is unknown, there is no list of these works in the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Serbia. A great number of those monuments is destroyed by Albanian extremists in their desire to destroy the features of the physical and spiritual existence of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija.

A MULTICULTURAL DYSTOPIA: THE ETHNICIZATION OF EDUCATION IN POST-INDEPENDENCE KOSOVO

Taking the unilateral declaration of independence as an historical milestone, this essay investigates the role of education within Kosovo’s current national system questioning whether education and, in particular, educational decentralization complemented by enhanced non-majority rights for the Kosovo-Serb community, has contributed to fostering a multicultural society or has, by contrast, reinforced the ethno-cultural divide between Kosovo-Albanians and Kosovo-Serbs. This will be done through an analysis of the gap between multicultural policies and effective practises over aspects of language, curriculum, teachers’ attitude and textbooks within the Kosovo-run system. The second part of the essay will address the response of the K-Serb community through the use of education as a tool of ‘resistance’ in the reiteration of its political stance in line with the UN Security Council Resolution 1244 with implications for social cohesion and the future of Kosovo. The “conceptualization” of these two parallel systems may be either indicative of future integration or conversely the expression for a call of full autonomy on the part of the K-Serbian inhabited north or, even worse, symptomatic of a return to violence. Article visualizations:

Bridging Past and Present Traumas: The Emergence of Kosovo Serb Ethnoscape in the Dynamic Interaction between the Enclaved Environment and History Textbooks’ Content

AbstractThis article deals with the use of history textbooks imported from Serbia in the specific context of Kosovo Serb enclavement. It provides a content analysis of history textbooks used by Kosovo Serb pupils in Kosovo in terms of their contribution to Kosovo Serb collective identity building. This article focuses on the interaction between the enclaved environment within which Kosovo Serbs have lived since 1999 and the narratives contained in the history textbooks, to highlight how this interaction influences the way Kosovo Serbs consider their identity. First, I start by showing that history textbooks used by Kosovo Serbs in Kosovo emphasize religious identity. Next, I argue that dialogic relation between past and present, understood through the dynamic interaction between the enclaved environment and history textbook narratives, contributes to the emergence of enclaves as ethnoscapes.

The Management of Water Resources in a Disputed Border: The Case of Gazivoda Reservoir (Kosovo)

This paper aims to study the importance of a good management of the Gazivoda reservoir. In the instable region of Balkans, water is considered a strategic resource. Crossing the disputed border between Kosovo and Serbia, Gazivoda’s water plays an important role for economies and water supply in both countries. The desire of controlling Gazivoda may disrupt the relationship that Kosovo and Serbia report. Claims from ethnic minorities of Serbs in Kosovo, and Albanians in Serbia might pose risks to current frontiers. Borders need to be respected to achieve stability. Foreign models of cooperation can be followed in order to achieve a good management successful for society on both sides of the border.

Communication as necessary factor of a collective remembrance of the common life on example of Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija

Far-reaching consequences that linguistic policy may leave in the future decades are denoted in the paper, especially in regions where two nations with their differences interlace. After the World War II, it was enabled for the Albanians in the region of Kosovo and Metohija to get education entirely in their mother tongue, Albanian language, which simultaneously reduced the range of interactions with fellow citizens of Serbian nationality, the ability to understand each other, reducing also their professional possibilities. The years that followed only deepened the linguistic barrier between the two nations living in the same region, which inevitably led to constantly growing ethnic distance and escalation of conflicts. Empirical researches regarding the linguistic and ethnic distance between the Serbs and Albanians were conducted among Serbian students in Kosovska Mitrovica and Albanian students in Pristina after a long time, in December 2016 and January 2017. An opinion poll in the field was implemented along with the representative sample, while Likert scale and modified Bogardus scale were used as instruments. The obtained results showed both the ignorance of the language of the other ethnic group and unwillingness to master that language, as an obstacle for communication. The results could be the guidelines for future state linguistic and educational policy in this region. Ethnic minorities have an indisputable right to foster their mother tongue and culture but necessarily must also master the language of the state whose territory they live on. On the other hand, the Serbian population also should get to know the language of fellow citizens - Albanians, primarily for establishing communication and better understanding, but also for improving the quality of life. Establishing such a linguistic policy would gradually remove linguistic barriers, leading to the reduction of ethnic distance. It would create also the presumptions for overcoming the ?ethnic cultural memory? that deepens differences by its unilaterality, i.e. it would create conditions for the transmission of over-ethnic memory to a common life in the region where such life existed. It would represent the first condition for establishing a common ?cultural memory?.

From Power-Sharing Arrangements to Identity Building: The Case of Kosovo Serbs in Kosovo

This article deals with the effectiveness of power-sharing arrangements and how they influence the identity building process in the particular case of Kosovo Serbs. Based on original data collected during a nine-month fieldwork conducted by the author in Kosovo Serbs villages, this paper aims to present local dynamics of everyday resistance to power-sharing arrangements and their implications. I argue that ordinary people’s everyday resistance to power-sharing provisions engenders a marginalization process, which contributes to the emergence of multiple Serbian identities within the Kosovo entity.

EU peace-building in the north of Kosovo and psychosocial implications for the locals: a bottom up perspective on normative power Europe

ABSTRACTThis paper explores what the Brussels Dialogue, a cornerstone of the current EU peacebuilding activities in Kosovo, means for the Serbs living in the north of Kosovo. Many argue that the EU-brokered dialogue is a ‘success story’ of EU peacebuilding. Yet such positive assessments usually overlook several consequences for the locals and how they perceive this ‘success story’. By linking the theory on the EU as a normative power with academic literature on the local aspects of peacebuilding, this paper contends that, despite the apparent success, the EU’s peacebuilding approach in Kosovo also brings several negative psychosocial implications for Serbs in the north of Kosovo and have further exacerbated intra-ethnic relations. The contours of intra-ethnic conflict in this territory reached a climax in January 2018 when the prominent Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic was assassinated. The increase in a general lack of security in the north of Kosovo, which the EU has also added to by ignoring or not properly addressing the challenges, questions the apparent success of the EU’s efforts here while also negatively affecting the overall perception of the EU as a normative power.

Statehood without an army: the question of the Kosovo Armed Force

ABSTRACT Almost a decade after its declaration of independence, Kosovo continues to depend on NATO’s Kosovo Force (KFOR) for its protection. This article explores why Kosovo has not developed its own armed forces and how it could complete the process of security institution building through the establishment of a Kosovo Armed Force (KAF) in the future. Conceptually, the article highlights the role of different agents with diverging positions on the development of a KAF and the unfolding politicization of the issue, under conditions of legal uncertainty. The empirical analysis traces the stalemate regarding the creation of a KAF to legal restraints and the diverging positions of different parties on the issue. More specifically, the government’s inability to balance between the high expectations of Kosovo Albanians and the adamant objections of Kosovo Serbs has exacerbated the politicization of the debate.

'Mavanje kumbara' - paljenje pokladnih vatri u Sirinićkoj župi

The paper discusses the event named 'mavanje kumbara' that is practiced in Sirinićka župa, the area in southern Kosovo and Metohija. This event is related to the act of burning the ritual fire and represents a part of the celebration of the White Shrove, on the eve of the Eastern fasting. The results presented in this paper were obtained from the field research of qualitative type carried out during 2018, mainly in Štrpce, the centre of Sirinićka župa. The study showed that 'mavanje kumbara' is a unique name used for the burning the Shrovetide fire recorded among the Serbs. The practice connected to the act of 'mavanje kumbara' shows the characteristics similar to the practice of the burning the shrovetide fire recorded in some earlier periods, but the fact is, according to everything, that nowadays this practice is also unique phenomenon, which is not reported anywhere else among the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, central Serbia and wider. The act of 'mavanje kumbara' is derived from belief that in the transition from winter to spring season harmful effects and evil forces will be driven out of settlements and houses by fire. It is the act of collective character, performed in the streets, on one hand, and in the middle of the settlement, on the other hand, by rotating the flame torches around the body. Beside ritual elements, this event contains elements of social and entertainment character, with the goal of contributing to a good mood, according to what it can be described as a kind of folk festivity or a collective joy.

Exploring Serbia–Kosovo Trade Relations: Achieving Peace through Trade Interdependence?

The nexus between trade and peace has been an important and controversial topic among international relations analysts. The phrase ‘trade promotes peace’, mostly associated with liberal scholars, became rather relevant in the post-Cold War period, linking increased trade with peace-building and comprehensive improvement of relations between parties in conflict. In this paper, the authors argue that Serbia–Kosovo trade interdependence has played a very limited role in the peace-building process. Using data available since 2000, the authors find that relatively stable trade relations and an improved institutional free-trade framework (CEFTA 2006) has failed to prevent major political disputes between Serbia and Kosovo (such as violence of 2004 and promulgation of the Declaration of Independence in 2008). At the end, the article provides several alternative explanations as to why trade interdependence was not a key determinant for long-term peace between Serbia and Kosovo.

Inter-Ethnic Relations in Kosovo

Abstract The paper aims to analyse the state of inter-ethnic relations in Kosovo between ethnic Albanians and ethnic Serbs, with special focus on the period after unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo in 2008. Inter-ethnic conflict in Kosovo has exclusively been over its territory since both Serbs and Albanians have made claims about history and ethno-demography to justify their alleged exclusive right to this ethnically mixed region. Consequently, inter-ethnic relations between Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo have been rather problematic throughout the most of the 20th century. During this period Albanians in Kosovo have been subjected to discrimination, intimidation and even mass expulsion by Yugoslav/Serb authorities. In late 1990s, these relations between Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo have progressively worsened and finally escalated in an armed warfare in 1999. Immediately after the war, Serbs in Kosovo were occasionally exposed to acts of inter-ethnic and retaliatory violence. Inter-ethnic relations between the two major ethnicities continued to be tense and fragile after independence of Kosovo in 2008. Dramatic changes of ethnic composition structure, atrocities and huge number of refugees due to the war, have left a legacy of deep mistrust and animosities between Albanians and Serbs in the newly created state. Consequently, Serbs in Kosovo have from the beginning refused to recognize Kosovo’s independence and have rigorously refused any governance by Kosovo authorities. Serbian community, especially in the North, claims stronger territorial autonomy, even separatism and unification with Serbia. The paper claims that in Kosovo inter-ethnic and interstate relations are basically the components of the same equation. Therefore, paper concludes that only overall improvement of relations between Kosovo and Serbia could contribute to overall relaxation of inter-ethnic relations between Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo. Unfortunately, the latest incidents between Kosovo and Serbia have increased the tensions between the two sides to alarming levels.

Serbian nation and its problems from the perspective of Polish nationalists in the early 21 st century

Abstract The article analyzes the situation of Serbs in Kosovo in terms of its reception by contemporary Polish nationalists in the magazine “Szczerbiec”. Serbian topics in Polish nationalist communities can count on special interest and recognition. The nationalist environments of many countries are showing solidarity with the Serbian nation in Kosovo and demanding recognition of their rights to these lands. The sympathy shown by Serbs to Poles, whose Slavic origins are linked, is pointed out. It can be assumed that the characteristics, attitude and views of the Serbs will foster mutual relations in the future.

Dissonant heritage and promotion of tourism in the case of Serbian medieval monuments in Kosovo

ABSTRACTDuring and after the war in Kosovo in 1999, Serbian medieval monuments were recognised as symbols and bearers of Serbian identity. This led to the fact that among the Albanian population in Kosovo, they were seen as an undesirable legacy – a reflection of centuries of the existence of Serbs in Kosovo. Although the historical value of these monuments, four of which are on the UNESCO World Heritage list of endangered sites, is not disputed, popular tourist publications open an unfounded debate and are used to alienate the historical identity of these places or to promote a distorted interpretation of them. Through popular media representations this paper will touch on the complexity of these monuments as dissonant heritage in the newly established state of Kosovo and its different uses and interpretations in the promotion of tourism.