Dyskursy o wojnie z lat 90. w byłej Jugosławii i strategie interpretacyjne [Discourses on war(s) of the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia, and interpretative strategies]
In different communication circles, there is no consensus even on the general name used to describe the war events of the mid-1990s that led to the break-up of Yugoslavia. In Croatia one speaks of the Homeland War (Domovinski rat), in Serbia of the wars that took place up to 1999, in Bosnia of the war, the last war, sometimes of the civil war (domovinski rat). Various events or places are seen as central symbolic moments, for example the recapture of Knin by Croatian army, massacre in Srebrenica, or the NATO air raids on Serbian cities. The PROP’s latest project aims to explore the discourses used to talk (write) about the war in the 1990s in the area of Yugoslavia; this involves teasing out contentious, difficult places that raise problems in mutual communication and in understanding the experiences inherent in participants from other cultures and communication circles. The first step, which begins with a research project carried out by students and doctoral candidates at the Institute of Western and Southern Slavonic Studies of the University of Warsaw, will be the preparation of a lexicon of discourse sites (terms), which have a different connotation in different contexts. Its aim is to help external audiences orient themselves in public debates in the countries of the former Yugoslavia, for which the experience of war is still central to the perception of recent history.
The project is led by Maciej Falski and Ewa Wróblewska-Trochimiuk, in cooperation with students of the Institute of Western and Southern Slavic Studies
Performativno, političko, značenjsko u hrvatskome javnom diskursu [The performative, political, meaningful in the public discourse in Croatia]
It was the first research problem PROP has tackled in its activity.
Since academic year 2016/17 we have been working on revealing how the public life in contemporary Croatia is crucially influenced by its performative dimension. We followed various current socio-political phenomena that occurred either in the mainstream of the public debate or in specific public niches. On the one hand we examined Zagreb protests of war veterans and staging of political forces between the most important Croatian political parties (HDZ & SDP), while on the other we looked at the activities of Montažstroj – the performance group marked by its deep socio-political involvement. During our seminar discussions, we reflected on how the cultural, social and political meanings can emerge from dynamic social praxis, social actions.
Some of the cases discussed during in the frame of this project are presented in “Narodna umjetnost”, vo. 56, no 1, 2019.
Practicing community: methods and perspectives [2019]
The topic we are currenty working on is the question of ‘practicing community in the post-Yugoslav area.’ As we tend to find the most adequate methods of analysis, we decided to launch first a pilot project, in order to discuss possible approaches with experienced and inspiring scholars with different background. They have all successed to reveal aspects of practical and performative side of the community-being, but with different sources and different approach within human and social sciences. Invited scholars, who accepted to participate in our seminars, are Christian Voß, Xavier Bougarel, and Dragan Damjanović.
The project was financed with the support of the rector of the University of Warsaw and the dean of the Faculty of Polish studies.