Framing the Nation and Collective Identities: Analyzing Commemorative Practices in Contemporary Croatia

Centre for Southeast European Studies

 

UNI Graz

 

brownbag seminar

 

Date: 10 May 2016 – 13:00 to 14:00

 

Location: SR 15.33, RESOWI B/3

 

Speaker(s):  Vjeran Pavlaković (University of Rijeka)

 

Related webpage(s):  FRAMNAT http://framnat.eu/

 

Commemorations and other political rituals are key components of a nation’s cultural memory, crucial for the construction and reinforcement of ideological, ethnic, economic, sexual, and other identities. The modern-day Republic of Croatia gained independence at the end of the twentieth century after three major wars, numerous territorial changes, and experiments with political systems from parliamentary democracy and monarchism to fascist dictatorship and state socialism. The contested histories of World War Two and the still-living memories of the war in the 1990s permeate both domestic and foreign politics, and became flash points during various election campaigns in 2015. The country’s commemorative culture regarding the last two wars serves as a platform for politicians regardless of ideological bent to embed themselves within the nation-building narratives.War, with its heroes and victims, plays a central role in the construction of the Croatian nation. This brown bag lecture will present the activities and initial results of the FRAMNAT project, financed from Croatian science foundation (HRZZ). This project seeks to analyze both top-down and bottomup strategies of framing the nation and collective identities through commemorative practices of World War Two and the Homeland War in Croatia. While the focus will be on the commemorative speeches of Croatia’s political elites specifically the president and prime minister), the speeches of oppositional politicians and other social actors (Croatian Catholic Church, antifascist organizations, and veterans’ [branitelji] organizations) which either support or challenge the official narratives will also be analyzed.

 

 

http://www.suedosteuropa.uni-graz.at/en/event/2016/framing-nation-and-collective-identities-analyzing-commemorative-practices-contemporary