Folk Poetry as an Identity Creating Instrument (On Serbian and Croatian Examples)

Abstract

The author discusses the ways in which popular tradition can be used as a political instrument to present ethnic identity, which is especially true of the epic poetry starting from the 19^th century. A number of German, Soviet and Serbian examples from the past are used to illustrate the point. Serbian 19^th epic poetry and the glorification of allegedly heroic mountain-dwellers' mentality is discussed as instrumental in instigating the recent military aggression in the Balkans. In Croatia, some basically myth-making traditions lacking actual historical foundations are cultivated as a means of creating images of former glory, which was especially prominent during the recent war. The author discusses cruelties characterising the epic poetry of both nations (Serbian and Croatian), as well as the immanent political features inherent in the epic genre, pointing out that they are not a result of centurieslong “Balkan hatred”, but should rather be seen as phenomena which, mutatis mutandis, can be observed everywhere, even in countries where the past seems to have been overcome once and for all.