CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020
| Author | Gajic, Nikola |
|---|---|
| Title | Contemporary Serbian Ethno-Religious Nationalism in Montenegro: Position of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian State towards the Montenegrin Law on Religious Freedom |
| Summary | The focus of this thesis is on the role of religion in Orthodox counties where religion is tied to national identity, with a particular focus on Serbia and Montenegro. Apart from analyzing this specific connection, the thesis will address the phenomenon of politicization of religion by both the state and by the religious institution during turbulent events in Montenegro from 2019 and 2020. The thesis employs critical discourse analysis and discourse-historical approach to analyze the potential, but significant, shift in the ethnoreligious and nationalist discourse of the Serbian Orthodox Church officials. Moreover, it demonstrates the discursive change of instrumentalizing religion since, in the analyzed case, the shift implies reduced discursive usage of religion as a marker of someone’s ethnicity in the predominantly mono-confessional society. These findings contradict the established pattern of emphasizing the interconnection of Orthodoxy and nation in the discourse of the Church officials in the multi-ethnic and multi-confessional states. The same methodological tools have been used for observing the phenomenon of politicization of religion and for framing the discourse of the two actors of this process, the Serbian state and the Serbian Orthodox Church. The thesis claims that the Serbian state has to “defend” the Serbian Church’s influential position because of their historical connectivity. Protecting the Church, the state is showing its dedication to the preservation of the Serbian national identity. |
| Supervisor | Kovács, András Péter; Naumescu Vlad |
| Department | Nationalism Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2020/gajic_nikola.pdf |
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