Doctoral Dissertation Research: Imagining Yugoslavia: A Comparative Study of Post-Communist Collective Memories among Transitional Generations

主持/联合主持：Brian Steensland和Tanja Vuckovic jurs博士论文研究：想象中的南斯拉夫：后共产主义过渡世代集体记忆的比较研究[0825225]摘要本项目的主要目的是研究社会中的新一代（年轻人）如何适应激进的社会变革，以及他们的适应如何促进社会更深层次的结构变革。本研究将通过比较两个克罗地亚后南斯拉夫世代对共产主义南斯拉夫的集体记忆来回答这些问题。克罗地亚是南斯拉夫社会主义联邦共和国的六个共和国之一。上世纪90年代，它的后共产主义转型与一场争取独立和国家建设的战争同时发生，当时的独裁政权试图确认其反对南斯拉夫的合法性。但是，2000年的政权更迭带来了一个新的自由化时期，潜在地打开了关于南斯拉夫的公共话语。本研究将探讨在两个不同的后南斯拉夫世代中，对南斯拉夫过去的不同看法是如何发展的。第一代是过渡时期的一代人，他们对南斯拉夫有着早期的童年记忆，但在专制的后南斯拉夫时期度过了成长的岁月。第二种是后共产主义一代，他们没有南斯拉夫的个人经历，但在自由化时期度过了成长的岁月。首先，通过对报纸和历史教科书的文本分析，研究人员将研究在后南斯拉夫克罗地亚的专制和自由时期，这两代人对南斯拉夫的叙述。其次，通过深度访谈，研究人员将比较过渡时期和后共产主义时代的人如何以他们自己对南斯拉夫过去的看法来谈判南斯拉夫，以及他们如何看待他们的家庭故事、媒体和学校的叙述。最后，通过这些数据，研究人员将试图解释现有的公共叙事、家庭故事和形成时期的经历如何影响这两代人对共产主义南斯拉夫的个人叙事。这将阐明文化意义的代际传递过程，也将加深对政治精英、媒体和个人的互动影响以及这种互动对文化共识形成的作用的理解。因此，通过考察政治意识的代际传递过程以及个人经历与制度框架之间的相互关系，本研究将有助于理解全面的社会变革以及文化在限制和促进社会变革中的作用。此外，这项研究还将阐明，关于旧的、不可原谅的冤屈的叙述是如何被年轻人延续或抛弃的。考虑到对过去的看法往往是冲突（特别是种族冲突）的火上浇油的力量，也是社会融合的基石，这些见解可以帮助政策制定者为该地区内外的和解铺平道路。此外，这些发现也可以应用于社会冲突的其他领域，因此，对旨在减轻各种其他社会分裂问题（例如移民问题，种族问题，冲突后解决方案）以及和解与融合计划感兴趣的政策制定者将感兴趣。

PI and Co-PI: Brian Steensland and Tanja Vuckovic JurosDoctoral Dissertation Research: Imagining Yugoslavia: A Comparative Study of Post-Communist Collective Memories Among Transitional Generations0825225ABSTRACTThe main goal of this project is to examine how the new generations in a society (the young people) adapt to the radical social changes and how their adaptation contributes to deeper structural changes in a society. This study will answer these questions by comparing collective memories of the communist Yugoslavia among two Croatian post-Yugoslav generations. Croatia was one of the six republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Its post-communist transformation in the 1990s co-occurred with a war for independence and nation-building under an authoritarian regime that sought to affirm its legitimacy in opposition to Yugoslavia. But, the regime change in 2000 brought a new liberalizing period, potentially opening up the public discourse on Yugoslavia. This research will examine how different perceptions of the Yugoslav past develop among two different post-Yugoslav generations. The first is the transitional generation that has early childhood memories of Yugoslavia, but that spent formative years in the authoritarian post-Yugoslav period. The second is the post-communist generation that has no personal experience of Yugoslavia, but that spent its formative years in the liberalizing period. First, using textual analysis of the newspapers and the history textbooks, the researcher will examine what narratives of Yugoslavia were available to these two generations in the authoritarian and the liberal period of the post-Yugoslav Croatia. Second, using in-depth interviews, the researcher will compare how the transitional and post-communist generations negotiate Yugoslavia in their own perceptions of the Yugoslav past and what they make of their family stories and media and school accounts. Finally, with these data, the researcher will seek to explain how the available public narratives, family stories and formative years' experiences influence the personal narratives of communist Yugoslavia among these two generations. This will illuminate the process of generational transmission of cultural meanings, and it will also enhance the understanding of the interacting influences of the political elites, the media and individuals and the role this interaction has for the formation of cultural consensus. Therefore, by examining the process of generational transmission of political consciousness and the interrelations between personal experiences and institutional frameworks, this study will contribute to the understanding of comprehensive social changes and the role of culture in both restricting and enabling societal transformations. Further, this research will shed light on how the narratives of the old and unforgiven grievances get perpetuated or abandoned by the young people. Considering that the perceptions of the past are often the fuelling force for conflicts (ethnic conflicts in particular), as well as the building blocks for social integration, these insights can help policy-makers pave the road for the reconciliation, both in the region and beyond. Additionally, these findings can also be applied to other areas of societal conflict, and therefore they will be of interest to policy-makers interested in programs aimed at mitigating various other society-wide divisive issues (e.g. immigration issues, race, post-conflict resolution) and in the programs of reconciliation and integration.