Nation and Identity in Contemporary Europe

The resilience of nationalism in contemporary Europe may seem paradoxical at a time when the nation-state is widely seen as being ‘in decline’. The contributors of this book see the resurgence of nationalism as symptomatic of the quest for identity and meaning in the complex modern world. Challenged from above by the supranational imperatives of globalism and from below by the complex pluralism of modern societies, the nation-state, in the absence of alternatives to market consumerism, remains a focus for social identity.
Nation and Identity in Contemporary Europe takes a fully interdisciplinary and comparative approach to the ‘national question’. Individual chapters consider the specifics of national identity in France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Iberia, Russia, the former Yugoslavia and Poland, while looking also at external forces such as economic globalisation, European supranationalism, and the end of the Cold War.
Setting current issues and conflicts in their broad historical context, the book reaffirms that ‘nations’ are not ‘natural’ phenomena but ‘constructed’ forms of social identity whose future will be determined in the social arena.

Tormented by History: Nationalism in Greece and Turkey

The resilience of nationalism in contemporary Europe may seem paradoxical at a time when the nation-state is widely seen as being ‘in decline’. The contributors of this book see the resurgence of nationalism as symptomatic of the quest for identity and meaning in the complex modern world. Challenged from above by the supranational imperatives of globalism and from below by the complex pluralism of modern societies, the nation-state, in the absence of alternatives to market consumerism, remains a focus for social identity.
Nation and Identity in Contemporary Europe takes a fully interdisciplinary and comparative approach to the ‘national question’. Individual chapters consider the specifics of national identity in France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Iberia, Russia, the former Yugoslavia and Poland, while looking also at external forces such as economic globalisation, European supranationalism, and the end of the Cold War.
Setting current issues and conflicts in their broad historical context, the book reaffirms that ‘nations’ are not ‘natural’ phenomena but ‘constructed’ forms of social identity whose future will be determined in the social arena.

Το βάσανο της Ιστορίας: Ο εθνικισμός στην Ελλάδα και στην Τουρκία

Το βάσανο της Ιστορίας είναι η πρώτη συγκριτική μελέτη του εθνικισμού στην Ελλάδα και στην Τουρκία. Eξετάζοντας τα έργα της λαϊκής και της επιστημονικής ιστοριογραφίας και λογοτεχνίας σχετικά με τον ελληνικό και τον τουρκικό εθνικισμό, αναζητεί τα ίχνη της εμφάνισης και της ανάπτυξης του ελληνικού και του τουρκικού εθνικιστικού οράματος κατά τα τελευταία 200 χρόνια, αμφισβητώντας την επικρατούσα αντίληψη για την αναπόφευκτη ανάδυση του «ελληνικού» και του «τουρκικού» έθνους. Αναγνωρίζοντας την πολυπλοκότητα της σχέσης μεταξύ των δύο εθνικιστικών σχεδίων, ο Oυμούτ Οζκιριμλί και ο Σπύρος A. Σοφός, ένας Τούρκος και ένας Έλληνας, αναλύουν τις πολιτικές που υιοθετήθηκαν σε σχέση με τη γλώσσα, τη θρησκεία, τη μνήμη και την ιστορία, την εδαφική επικράτεια και το τοπίο, όπως επίσης και τις διαδικασίες ομογενοποίησης, περιθωριοποίησης και «μειονοτικοποίησης» πληθυσμών και πολιτιστικών παραδόσεων, αλλά και τη θεσμική υποστήριξη του ελληνικού και του τουρκικού εθνικισμού. Οι συγγραφείς πραγματεύονται επίσης τη θέση της «καταστατικής βίας» –φυσικής και συμβολικής– στην εθνικιστική φαντασίωση, καθώς και το επακόλουθο συλλογικό τραύμα και την αίσθηση της απώλειας κατά τη διαδικασία θεμελίωσης και εδραίωσης της ελληνικής και της τουρκικής ταυτότητας.

Tarihin Cenderesinde: Yunanistan ve Türkiye’de Milliyetçilik

Umut Özkırımlı ile Spyros Sofos’un bu çalışması, Yunanistan ve Türkiye’deki milliyetçilikler üzerine her iki ülkenin resmî tarihyazımını sorgulayan, karşılaştırmalı okuma yapmamıza imkân veren ortak bir kavramsal–kuramsal çerçeve sunuyor. Kitapta öncelikle her iki ülkenin tarihine ilişkin literatür eleştirel bir gözle incelenirken, milliyetçi projelerin doğuşu ile gelişimi karşılaştırmalı bir analizle ele alınıyor. Ardından Yunan ve Türk milliyetçiliğine özgü mit ve kavramları yorumlayan yazarlar, bu milliyetçiliklerin aralarındaki benzerlikleri ve simbiyotik ilişkileri dikkate alarak, her iki ülkenin milliyetçi tahayyüllerinin kendilerine özgü özelliklerini vurgulayıp, ulus inşa etme süreçleri üzerine değerlendirmelerde bulunuyor. Eser aralarındaki benzerlikleri ve ilişkileri göz ardı etmeden bu iki milliyetçiliğin ayırt edici ve kendilerine özgü yönlerine vurgu yapıp, birbirlerini “ötekileştiren” tarihî ve siyasî süreçler hakkında ayrıntılı bilgiler sunuyor.

Inter-ethnic Violence and Gendered Constructions of Ethnicity in former Yugoslavia

This article constitutes an attempt to put forward some suggestions towards constructing a framework for understanding the processes of the social construction of sexuality and gender identity within the context of the ethnic conflict, and of nationalist/ populist politics in former Yugoslavia. In particular, it focuses on the ways in which masculinist discourse is articulated to the politics of ethnicity in former Yugoslavia, by examining the definition and treatment of women as ‘biological reproducers of the nation’ through the discourses and policy proposals of moral majority nationalist and pro-life movements in Croatia and Slovenia, and of the nationalist movement and regime in Serbia, and the use of rape and sexual assault against women as ‘weapons’ in the ethnic conflict in Bosnia and other republics of former Yugoslavia.

Nationalism, Mass Communications and Public Rituals in Former Yugoslavia: The Case of Serbia

This paper explores two significant areas in which mass communication has been central in the maintenance and spread of nationalism and the process of disintegration of the People’s Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as a result of the intensification of the ‘ethinicization’ or ‘nationalization’ of its constituent units and their institutions: the performance of public rituals and the formation of moral panics.