Citizenship and Belonging: Literary Themes and Variations from Yugoslavia

Abstract:     
Works of literature can be effective tools for understanding the ways in which individuals understand different concepts of citizenship. Focusing on the territories of the former Yugoslavia, this paper examines attitudes to citizenship and national belonging in works from the 19th and 20th centuries - The Mountain Wreath (Gorski Vijenac) of Petar Petrovic Njegos, The Death of Smail-Aga Cengic (Smrt Smail-Age Cengica) by Ivan Mazuranic, The Bridge on the Drina (Na Drini cuprija) by Ivo Andric and The Fortress (Tvrdjava) by Mesa Selimovic - to describe a picture of citizenship “from the inside out” - that is, as experienced by and affecting the lives and thoughts of characters within these literary works. The analysis reveals a dynamic relationship between changing ideas of citizenship and the attitudes of characters, and shows that authors use the depiction of various attitudes to citizenship to explicate their own views on the proper relationship of the individual to the state.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 19

Keywords: citizenship, literature, identity, Ivo Andric, Mesa Selimovic, Bosnia, Yugoslavia, Balkans

JEL Classification: K10, K19, P30

working papers series