Yugo-nostalgia

Some 1,000 people gather at Tito's statue in Sarajevo during a ceremony in 2006 commemorating the 26th anniversary of his death.

Yugo-nostalgia is a little-studied psychological and cultural phenomenon occurring among citizens of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. While its anthropological and sociological aspects have not been clearly recognized, the term, and the corresponding epithet "Yugo-nostalgic", is commonly used by the people in the region in two distinct ways: as a positive personal descriptive, and as a derogatory label.^[1]

Present cultural and economic manifestations of Yugo-nostalgia include music groups with Yugoslav or Titoist retro iconography, art works, films, theater performances, and many organized, themed tours of the main cities of the former Yugoslav republics.

Positive sense

In its positive sense, Yugo-nostalgia refers to a nostalgic emotional attachment to idealised desirable aspects of the SFRY. These are described as one or more of: economic security, sense of solidarity, socialist ideology, multiculturalism, internationalism and non-alignment, history, customs and traditions, and more rewarding way of life. As Halligan argues, such nostalgia effectively "reclaims" pre-1989 cultural artefacts, even propaganda films. These positive facets, however, are opposed to the perceived faults of the successor countries, many of which are still burdened by the consequences of the Yugoslav wars and are in various stages of economic and political transition. The faults are variously identified as parochialism, jingoism, corruption in politics and business, the disappearance of the social safety net, economic hardship, income inequities, higher crime rates, as well as a general disarray in administrative and other state institutions.^[1]

Negative sense

In the negative sense, the epithet has been used by the supporters of the new post-dissolution regimes to portray their critics as anachronistic, unrealistic, unpatriotic, and potential traitors. In particular, during and after the Yugoslav wars, the adjective has been used by state officials and media of some successor countries to deflect criticism and discredit certain avenues of political debate. In fact, it is likely that the term Yugo-nostalgic was originally coined precisely for this purpose, appearing as a politically motivated pejorative label in government-controlled media, for example in Croatia, very soon after the breakup of the SFRY.^[2]

According to Dubravka Ugrešić the term Yugo-nostalagic is used to discredit a person as a "public enemy" and a "traitor".^[3][4]

Decline and rise of Yugoslavism

Since the breakup of SFRY, the idea of Yugoslavism had gradually lost popularity. The name Yugoslavia was kept by Serbia and Montenegro in their federation prior to 2003, when it was replaced by the federal republics' individual names. The number of declared Yugoslavs in the region is now much lower than ever before. The last census in Serbia showed approximately 80,000 Yugoslavs, but at this time the country was still known as such. The "Yugoslav language", Serbo-Croatian, is no longer the official language of any of the former state's constituent republics. Few resources are published about the language, and it has no standardizing body. The .yu Internet domain name, which was popular among Yugo-nostalgic websites, was also phased out in 2010.

Yugo-nostalgia is seeing a come back in the former Yugoslav states.^[5] In Vojvodina (north province of Serbia), one man has set up Yugoland, a place dedicated to Tito and Yugoslavia.^[6][7] Citizens from former Yugoslavia have traveled great distances to celebrate the life of Tito and the country of Yugoslavia.^[8] On Facebook there are several pages with up to 153,000 followers from all of the former republics of Yugoslavia as well as around the world ^[9] as of May, 2013, that are dedicated to reviving and promoting the Yugoslav idea and Tito's principles of Brotherhood and Unity. Many posts on Facebook and other social media suggest that the phenomenon is on the rise, especially with young people and in certain cities, especially Mostar.

See also

• Yugoslavs
• Yugoslavism
• Yugoslavia
• Titoism
• Ostalgie

Bibliography

• Halligan, Benjamin: "Idylls of Socialism: The Sarajevo Documentary School and the Problem of the Bosnian Sub-proletariat". In Studies in Eastern European Cinema (Autumn 2010). (http://usir.salford.ac.uk/11571/3/visualrecollectivisationpostcopyedit.pdf)
• Trovesi, Andrea: L'enciclopedia della Jugonostalgija. In Banchelli, Eva: Taste the East: Linguaggi e forme dell'Ostalgie, Sestante Edizioni, Bergamo 2006, ISBN 88-87445-92-3, p. 257-274.
• Dejan Djokic, ed. "Yugoslavism: Histories of a Failed Idea, 1918–1992". London: Hurst & Co., 2003. 356 pp.
• Yugo-Nostalgia: Cultural Memory and Media in the Former Yugoslavia, Author: Volcic, Zala, Critical Studies in Media Communication, Volume 24, Number 1, March 2007, pp. 21–38(18), Publisher: Routledge.
• Kristen R. Ghodsee, "Red Nostalgia? Communism, Women's Emancipation, and Economic Transformation in Bulgaria."

References

External links

• The Independent (1 March 2008). "Bringing back Tito". London. Retrieved 21 May 2010. 
• NPR (9 October 2006). "'Yugonostalgia' Takes Hold in Slovenia". Retrieved 21 May 2010. 
• University of Queensland (7 August 2007). "Yugo-nostalgia: Cultural Memory and Media in the former Yugoslavia". Retrieved 21 May 2010.