City and Ideology: ‘Cultures of Oblivion’ on the Example of the Town of Sisak

Abstract

Grad je kao mnogi drugi antropološki predmeti terenski i epistemološki iznimno istraživano područje. Prostor grada je višeznačno mjesto izloženo društvenim izvedbama. Ovaj rad propituje statično poimanje grada kao zadanog i urbanistički dovršenog polja značenja, odnosno načine prilagodbe grada zahtjevima ljudske imaginacije – kulturne, društvene i političke. Rad se bavi načinima na koji se politički imaginarij, bio on diskurzivan ili konkretan, upisuje ili otjelovljuje u gradu. U tom smislu rad slijedi koncept Svetlane Boym (2001) i njezina razmišljanja o "ugnježđivanju" imaginarija u fizičko tijelo grada. Specifičnost je ovoga rada u tome što se bavi ideološki motiviranim žudnjama koje su se otjelovile u urbanom krajoliku grada Siska u pregovaranjima socijalističke i postsocijalističke ideologije.The city is the place of multiple meanings subjected to social performances. This article questions the static perception of the city which is seen as the given and urbanistically completed set of meanings and discusses the ways in which the city adjusts to the demands of human imagination – cultural, social and political. The article observes the ways in which political imagery, be it discursive or concrete, is inscribed and embedded into the city. Here the article uses the concept of Svetlana Bom (2001) and her discussions on the ‘embedding’ of the imagery into the physical body of the city. This article specifically deals with the ideologically motivated yearnings which were embedded in the urban landscape of the town of Sisak in the negotiations of socialist and post-socialist ideology. Using the example of the ways in which socialist monuments were treated in the last seventeen years, which were seen as the period of the strong re-symbolization, the author pointed to the processes of remembrance which were efficiently modified through public discourse. The socialist symbolic capital of monuments was questioned though the linguistic practices of neglect, aggression and hate and materialized in the ways the space was used