SOCI 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Epic Poetry, Croatian National Guard
Document Summary
Nothing left to keep a lid on ethnic and nationalist rhetoric. Politics of identity: especially in serbia, two autonomous provinces, many see constitution of 1974 as divvying up serbia. Sets state for leaders who utilize ethnic and nationalist themes as claims to legitimacy: slobodan milosevic, franjo tjudman. 1986: becomes president of the serbian league of communist. Pays up serbian grievances: victims of croats(wwi and ww2 ustasche, victims of muslims(turks and others) Argues 1974 constitution was anti-serb: attempt to break up serbia. Two central questions: status of kosovo, status of serbs outside of serbia. 1389: historic battle in which turks defeat serbia. Epic poetry about the battle is well-known and oft-recited. Important rallying cry in 19th century serb nationalist project. Most kosovars today are albanian and muslim. Kosovo autonomous province begins to demand status as a republic. Declares emergency rule in province 1990: effectively removing kosovo autonomy. Large number of serbs live outside of serbia.
