Between Anti-Yugoslavism and Yugo-Nostalgia in Slovenia in the 1990s

• In Event: Yugoslav (Re)Visions I: Comparative anti-Yugoslavism

Abstract

The Slovenian public sphere in the 1990s was dominated by two contradictory tendencies. On the one hand, the community as a whole was relatively united in its decision for political independence and integration into the European Union, which resulted in a markedly anti-Yugoslav stance at all levels. The most politically problematic was the "Erasure", an administrative act whereby the authorities - in violation of the constitution - removed a large group of former Yugoslavian citizens from the register of permanent residents in February 1992. But on the other hand, the 1990s were also a time of great Yugo-nostalgia, as Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian culture - especially music, films and food - became an indispensable element of every private party and public event. The "Balkans" thus became an unusual object, something that was culturally the least desirable, but also the most desirable at the same time. Only in recent years can a new cultural phenomenon can be observed, where the contradiction between anti-Yugoslavism and Yugonostalgia is overcome by “Yugofuturism.”

Author

• Gregor Moder, U of Ljubljana (Slovenia)