The Balkans

Download or read book The Balkans written by Ivan Čolović and published by Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft Mbh & Company. This book was released on 2011 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book deconstructs culture as the catalyst for hatred and war in the Balkans. The book also pays particular attention to the post-war "patriotic" discourse and the use of culture in Serbia and other Balkan countries, with the intention of determining how and through which rhetorical strategies this sort of discourse manages to preserve its ability to trigger conflicts. The book focuses on myths about the so-called "national spiritual and cultural space": the alleged organic unity between the Balkan nations and the soil on which they live and to which they lay exclusive claim. The Balkans: The Terror of Culture devotes particular attention to the cult of national languages, national poets, graves and monuments, and the epic tradition and its main symbol - the musical gusle. The mainstay of these myths and cults is the representation of culture as a means by which national territory is occupied and kept.