Serbian identity: reaffirmation or deconstruction

This paper describes the normalization of the image of Serbia as a place of primitivism and evil. This is reflected in terms such as “Stinkland” (“Smrdija”), “Serbiatria” (“Srbijatrija”), “Savageland” (“Gedžovanija”), “Chetnikia” (“Četnikija”), “Serbistan” (“Srbistan”), etc. This negative (self-)essentialization may appear to be the result of hyper-radical (self-)criticism. The subject who makes use of such a discourse, however, positions himself as an exception, as someone who is disgusted by the “unworthy other”, in this case the unworthy, often class-wise underprivileged fellow citizen. Such dehumanizing stigmatization becomes part of a cultural pattern through which the middle and lower classes internalize a sense
of inferiority. Thanks to the media, this toxic discourse penetrates deep into society and finds fertile ground among aspirational groups who expect the privileges of the middle and upper classes of the West, the privileged center of the global capitalist system. Through dehumanizing stigmatization, the collective identity of
Serbian society is deconstructed and subsequently reconstructed. The frequent use of a particular discourse creates linguistic routines that are widely accepted as collective meanings. Embedded in this discourse is the eternal position of inferiority that justifies colonial rule over a barbaric country and its primitive people. The established self-contempt of the compradors reinforces the colonial position.