CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020
| Author | Bajic, Mila |
|---|---|
| Title | Generation Bombing- Renarrating Myths: The Importance of the 1999 NATO Bombing on Attitudes Towards Kosovo as a Symbolic Concept |
| Summary | The 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia played an important part in the socialization process for the generation born during the 1990s. It revived a myth of honor and sacrifice and exposed this generation to a century long conflict through this traumatic event. This thesis explores how the fundamental national myth of Kosovo helped this generation comprehend the 1999 military intervention, as well as how this generations’ experience of the bombing contributed to their renarration of the myth. By focusing on this event, the thesis contributes to the wider debates related to the symbolic potential that the myth of Kosovo carries for this generation and its impact on collective memory in regards to the 1990s in Serbia. Theoretical framework of the dissertation is based on conceptual discussion in four subject areas: collective memory, sociological generations, cultural trauma and national myths. Empirical data is collected by an online survey (N=175) of respondents from the age cohort born between 1990-1997. Attitudes and memories of the respondents about the bombing were subsequently categorized in order to create a typology of distinct remembering groups. These groups differ in the ways in which internal and external factors influenced their memory formation processes and in how they view the importance of Kosovo for the Serbian national identity today. The evidence shows that young adults used national common stories to make sense of their personal experience while at the same time including this personal experience into the national story. |
| Supervisor | Kovacs, Maria M; Kadar, Gabor; |
| Department | Nationalism Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2020/bajic_mila.pdf |
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