Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.15291/sic/2.11.lc.1

Dog-headed Creatures as the Other: The Role of Monsters in the Construction of the Croatian Identity

Luka Šešo ; Catholic University of Croatia, Croatia

Abstract

This paper analyzes four reports concerning dog-headed creatures (pasoglavci) published in the late 19th and early 20th century in the Journal of Folk Life and Customs of Southern Slavs (Zbornik za narodni život i običaje Južnih Slavena). In order to determine who the dog-headed creatures represented in the Croatian folk culture of the time and why reports concerning them got published in the first ethnological journal in Croatia, it was necessary to study the concept of dog-headed creatures from the perspective of the process of othering. The conclusion was that the specific historical and cultural circumstances that existed in the area from which the reports originated stimulated the construction of the idea that the dog-headed creatures existed, which was used both to demonize other ethnoreligious groups and to create a positive image of the original group’s own identity.

Keywords

dog-headed Creatures, Croatian folk culture, the Other, identity, late 19th century

Hrčak ID:

259165

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/259165

Publication date:

16.6.2021.

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