'Dajem ti srce, zemljo moja': Music and National (Dis)Unity in the Aftermath of 2020 Petrinja Earthquake in Croatia

• In Event: Media, Solidarity, and the Challenging Afterlives of Precarious Times: II

Abstract

Focusing on the unprecedented natural disaster caused by the 2020 earthquake that hit the town of Petrinja, Croatia, this study explores the role of music as both an instrument of creating national unity and an arena for debates surrounding the question of Croatia's contemporary national identity and its relationship to the turbulent process of state and nation building in the 1990s. The study, based on the analysis of music videos and lyrics frequently broadcasted on the national channels in the earthquake's aftermath, news reports and social media archives, hopes to open up space for research on specific ways of music production and re-production during the COVID-19 pandemic in the region. In addition, it provides insight into new perspectives of looking at the relationship between popular music, politics and the formation and re-formation of national identity in the present-day Balkans.

Author

• Ivana Polic, UC San Diego