Divided Modernities. Citizenship, Agency and Public Spaces in a Central Serbian Town

Abstract

The article addresses the ways in which public spaces have been reconfigured since the end of socialism in Jagodina, a medium-sized industrial town in central Serbia. Unlike the majority of provincial towns, Jagodina experienced extensive building over the last decade. It is viewed as a success-story, and as a rare Serbian provincial town which has managed to develop economically in spite of the challenging economic and political circumstances in the country. This extensive building significantly influenced the nature of public space in the town, producing conflicting imaginations of modernity, which play an important role in shaping citizenship, moralities and the political subjectivities of people inhabiting an urban space.