Naming/Taming the Enemy: Balkan Oral Tradition and the Formation of ‘the Turk’ as the Political Enemy

The article approaches the question of political views promoted by oral tradition through Carl Schmitt’s notion of politics as the distinction between friend and enemy. It focuses on four versions of “Perović Batrić”, a comparatively short Montenegrin song with a typical subject of blood revenge, documented during the first half of the nineteenth century in Serbia, Montenegro and Herzegovina. It is demonstated that the only version documented without any impact of the ruling Montenegrin Petrović family from Cetinje displays explicit antagonism between the Montenegrin and Herzegovinian Orthodox Christian tribes and has no explicit antiturkish sentiment. In addition, two other versions written down from Montenegrin singers influenced by Cetinje as the political centre show the consolidation of political perspective and emphasize the hostilities between the Montenegrins and the local Turks. True political character of the enemy in the Schmittian sense, it is argued, is finally recognized only in the version of “Perović Batrić” edited by the Montenegrin bishop-prince Petar Petrović Njegoš II. In this song, the hostility towards Batrić’s adversary Osman follows not from his tribal conformity or his distinctive personality, but from his “Turkishness” as such. It is therefore argued that this recognition of the specifically political character of the enemy occurred under the increasing influence of Cetinje (as the political centre) on the representation of the oral tradition and that nationalistic elements in oral tradition mainly became associated with it, and inserted into it, during the process of publication and canonization of the oral tradition in the first half of the nineteenth centur

South Slavic Oral Tradition and its Textualization

The concept of the transitional text has so far had a destiny of the spectre of oral studies – its disturbing presence occasionally comes into view, but somehow without a proper recognition and place in the real world. Initially rejected and then accepted by Albert Lord (1960: 129, 1986a: 479–481), the term subsequently gained certain currency among the leading theorists (Foley 1988, Finnegan 1992: 116), only to be questioned again in the more recent scholarship (Jensen 1998: 94–114, 2008: 50). By revisiting Lord’s analyses and South Slavic oral and written tradition, this article describes transitional texts as a distinctive generic form involving two principal modes of enunciation – literary notion of fixed textuality and oral performative principle of composition in performance in traditional oral-formulaic language. Following the discussions of Lord and Foley, it also offers a synthetic framework for their analysis, based on the phraseology, style, outlook and contextual evidences about their documentation and singers. South Slavic tradition offers a continuum of published texts with various degrees of oral traditionality, and upon closer examination some turn out to be literary works written by educated poets familiar with oral tradition, whereas others are nothing more but fixed, fossilized texts that do not involve oral composition in performance and are not part of a living oral tradition (see also: Miletich 1988: 100–102). But this still leaves us with a number of examples that involve both oral and written attitudes and techniques of composition and cannot be reduced to either. After examining early nineteenth-century examples of the emerging literary influence on the still predominantly oral Montenegrin culture of the time, I will argue that such transitional South Slavic texts emerged in two principal ways, either by educated writers adjusting their literary technique to accommodate an oral traditional content, or by oral singers appropriating originally literary characteristics to their oral performative manner and style. In the final instance, the article advocates that a consistent theoretical model of transitional texts can provide leverage for comparative studies of the contacts between orality and literacy, and invites further analyses of the interpellations between oral and literary culture in other traditions

Improvement of the Traffic Safety in the Local Community by Upgrading of the Planning Documentation Through the Annex of the Law on Planning and Construction

By reviewing The Act on planning and construction we can make a note that traffic as well as the safety does not have the appropriate place in the same act. Being unjustifiably disregarded in comparison to the other areas, traffic and its safety were respectively not given the clear definitions by this frame act as well. On the other hand, the existing legal regulations that directly define the area of traffic: The Act on traffic safety on the roads and the Act on Roads do not likewise provide clear definitions , conditions and the way of making planning documentation predominately. This condition allows and brings to the following: making of the bad planning and technical documentation respectively, surpassing of traffication engineers in the process of making planning and technical documentation, difficulties in the work of the local community units which eventually bring to the degradation of the traffic science resulting in the decrease of the traffic safety in the local community unit. In order to execute the systematic solution to the problem as well as the establishing the traffic science to the appropriate, leading position in the mission of the traffic development of the local community unit it is necessary to clearly define the way of making and implementation of the planning and technical documentation with the obligation of engagement of traffic engineers. After all the necessary actions being taken together with the agreement with the Ministry in charge it is necessary to make an annex to the Act on planning and construction in the purpose of enhancing the safety of the traffic. This way of solving this problem is the only right way for traffic and its safety to be placed to the belonging position in The Act on planning and construction and the way for the local community units to get the appropriate and usable planning and technical documentation

Contentious Politics in the European Semi-periphery: Who protests on the streets of Belgrade?

Agenda of the 26th International Conference of Europeanists -Sovereignties in Contention: Nations, Regions and Citizens in Europe-, conducted at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid Puerta de Toledo Campus Madrid in Spain on June 20-22, 2019

“From Myth to Territory: Vuk Karadžić, Kosovo Epics and the Role of Nineteenth-Century Intellectuals in Establishing National Narratives”

In this article, we argue that the nineteenth-century Serbian scholars had a pivotal role in establishing Kosovo as the crucial subject of Serbian literature, culture, and politics. By revisiting the formation of the Kosovo epic in the collections of Vuk Karadžić, the founder of modern Serbian culture, we trace his role in making Kosovo the foundational myth of the whole Serbian nation from the nineteenth-century surge in Romantic nationalism onwards. In particular, we scrutinize Karadžić’s editorial procedures as parts of a process of cultural inscription representing a cultural transformation that made the Kosovo epic an instance of the invention of national tradition in Eric Hobsbawm’s terms

The Big Improvement in PISA 2009 Reading Achievements in Serbia: Improvement of the Quality of Education or Something Else?

The PISA 2009 results in Serbia show a big improvement in reading literacy compared to 2006 – the average score is 41 points higher, which is equal to the effect of a whole year of schooling in OECD countries and represents the second highest improvement ever recorded in a PISA study. In the present paper, we discuss potential reasons for such a big improvement based on analysis of the PISA 2009 reading achievements in different countries, with a special focus on countries from the same region (Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Romania and Albania). The analysis shows that the largest part of the improvement was realised at lower achieving levels, suggesting that the dominant method of teaching in schools is a traditional method oriented towards the acquisition and reproduction of academic knowledge. Findings of data analysis support the conclusion that the improvement is mainly the result of certain contextual factors, such as higher student motivation and a high level of official support for the PISA study in Serbia, rather than representing a real improvement in the quality of education

neprijateljstvo u intelektualnom svetu: globalne perspektive i vizije

This paper follows the perception of enmity relations in the recent online contributions of 20 global intellectual ‘superstars’, such as Habermas, Klein, Žižek and others. We observed two, very general distinctions; the first one includes several geopolitical oppositions such as Germany vs. the rest of the EU, Russia vs. the West and national vs. supranational, while the second is between the majority and privileged few/elites. We argue that contemporary intellectuals are still influential public figures, and that their efforts are more directed at mpowerment and reform of the societies through the existing system than at promoting and advocating alternatives to the existing neoliberal socio-economical order.U ovom radu se dotičemo percepcije neprijateljskih odnosa u skorašnjim online prilozima 20 globalnih ’zvezda’ intelektualaca kao što su habermas, Klajn, Žižek i drugi. Zabeležili smo dve vrlo opšte distinkcije; prva uključuje nekoliko geopolitičkih protivstavljanja kao što su nemačka vs. ostatak EU, Rusija vs. Zapad i nacionalno vs. nadnacionalno, dok druga pravi razliku između većine i privilegovane nekolicine/elita. Tvrdimo da su savremeni intelektualci još uvek uticajne javne ličnosti i da su njihovi napori više usmereni ka osnaživanju i reformi društava kroz postojeći sistem nego na promociju i zagovaranje alternatia postojećem neoliberalnom društveno-ekonomskom poretku

Comparison and assessment of electricity generation capacity for different types of photovoltaic solar plants of 1MW in Sokobanja, Serbia

This paper gives the results of the electricity generated by the fixed, one-axis and dual-axis tracking photovoltaic solar plant of 1 MW with flat panels made of monocrystalline silicon which is to be built in the area of Sokobanja (spa in Serbia). Further on follows a description of the functioning of the fixed and one-axis and dual-axis tracking solar plants. For the calculation of the electricity generated by these plants PVGIS program was used. Calculations have shown that fixed photovoltaic solar plant power of 1 MW, solar modules of mono-crystalline silicon yield 1130000 kWh power output, one-axis tracking solar plant yields 1420000 kWh, and dual-axis tracking solar plant yields 1450000 kWh of electricity. Electricity generated by the fixed photovoltaic solar plant could satisfy 86% of the annual needs for the electricity of the 'Zdravljak' hotel and the special 'Novi stacionar' hospital in Sokobanja