Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.15378/1848-9540.2018.41.05
UDBA Files as a Problematic Object in the (Re)construction of Croatian National Identity
Viktorija Kudra Beroš
orcid.org/0000-0002-0462-8183
; Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
In this paper, an analysis of narratives about the archive and archival material in the public space uncovers the political and ideological layer connected to identity politics present in the archive, which is in opposition to the seemingly neutral position of the archive as an institution. The focus is on the production of emotions through these narratives, which participate in the collective identification process and which antagonize the social field. This paper examines how UDBA files, as objects of different narratives in public and political spaces, participate in (re)constructing Croatian national identity (as a collective body) and in creating constitutive norms of memory and history by producing emotions (pain, suffering, love, hate). Emotions are used to give value to the identification markers of "Yugoslavism" and "Croatism", thus establishing them as a binary opposition and (re)articulating the Other (the "enemy") as a "Yugoslav" or a "Commie". The analysis shows how in this process, various ideological fantasies that structure social reality are also constructed.
Keywords
Croatian national identity; UDBA files; emotions; ideological fantasies; Other
Hrčak ID:
213532
URI
Publication date:
21.12.2018.
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