Completed Externally Funded Project
New and Ambiguous Nation-building Processes in South-eastern Europe
This research project examines four specific nation-building processes in South-eastern Europe after 1945: the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim), Macedonian, Moldovan and Montenegrin cases. The main focus of the interdisciplinary research of the project is on popular perceptions of nation-building. How did 'ordinary' people in these four countries, faced with communist and post-communist nation-building efforts, appropriate, reject or modify official notions of (new) national identity? What was the role of career migration or nationalisation of cultural practices and symbols for the processes of identification with the new nations? By providing historical and anthropological perspectives, this comparative study of recent and, in some respect, ambiguous nation-building processes, aims to break new scientific ground. In addition, our research will provide new insights into politically-sound and scientifically-relevant problems related to nationalism and national identity in South-eastern Europe. Details
