Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.32728/flux.2023.5.5
Migration Depicted in Cartoons: A Case Study of Jež Magazine (1981–1990)
Tatjana Mikulić
orcid.org/0009-0001-2297-838X
; Ethnographic museum in Belgrade
Abstract
This paper examines the depiction of migrations from Kosovo and Metohija during the 1980s in cartoons published in Yugoslavia’s most prominent satirical newspaper – Jež (Hedgehog). During that time, readers were consistently exposed to emotionally charged drawings illustrating the departure of emigrants. What was significant in these illustrations was the wearing of the Serbian national hat, šajkača. Previously, this hat symbolized social status, representing the rural population and peasants. However, during the crisis, its significance shifted, becoming a symbol of Serbian nationality. In public life, particularly among intellectual circles, this era saw the resurgence of neo-traditionalist narratives glorifying Serbia’s past. The visual representation of these narratives can be observed in cartoons, notably from 1986 onward, coinciding with the proliferation of cartoons featuring emigrants. These constructed neo-traditionalist narratives were appropriated and utilized by Slobodan Milošević’s populist machinery as a means to maintain power. The cartoons, as a direct product of the burgeoning Serbian nationalist policy at that time, played a role in propaganda and mobilization.
Keywords
political cartoons; Jež; migrations; Kosovo; peasant; šajkača hat
Hrčak ID:
312188
URI
Publication date:
24.12.2023.
Visits: 215 *