A Territorialized Understanding of Ethnoscapes

The concept of ethnoscape appeared for the first time in Anjun Apparudai’s (Reference Apparudai1990) works. Noting the globalized nature of the world, Apparudai understood the concept especially in terms of deterritorialization and movement (Sian Reference Sian2013, 83). He defines ethnoscape as a “landscape of persons who constitute the shifting world in which we live; tourists, immigrants, refugees, exiles, guest workers and other moving groups and persons constitute an essential feature of the world and appear to affect the politics of (and between) nations to a hitherto unprecedented degree” (Apparudai Reference Apparudai1990, 297). His concept was notably used (and still is) to study the reconfiguration of diasporic identities (Zanforlin Reference Zanforlin2016; Vaughan Reference Vaughan2016). Contrary to Apparudai, Anthony Smith proposes a more territorialized understanding of the concept of ethnoscape, which he defines as “sites that possess a special symbolic and mythic meaning … endowed with a sacred and extraordinary quality, generating powerful feelings of reverence and belonging” (Smith Reference Smith1999a, 149–50). Smith explains that ethnoscapes are created throughout three associations made by the inhabitants of a land and contribute to what he calls the “territorialisation of memory” (1999b, 17). These associations consist of viewing the land as a territory where “events and experiences that moulded” and have an impact on the development of the community took place. The territory is also regarded as a “witness to the survival of the ethnie” (Smith Reference Smith1999b, 16–17). These associations instill a “sense of continuity” that links territory and the people through a mutual belongingness. Following Smith, the territorialization of memory also implies a sacralization of the territory that can occur in three different ways: by engendering “a community of believers,” through “holy deeds of heroic ancestors,” and finally as “a result of a quest for liberation and utopia” (1999b, 20).

The Chosen Trauma: The Dialogic Relation between Past and Present

The concept of “chosen trauma” developed by Vamik Volkan in 1997 helps to understand the particular relation a community maintains and/or develops with a territory. Focusing on a psychological perspective, the concept of chosen trauma is defined as “the shared mental representation of an event in large group’s history in which the group suffered catastrophic loss, humiliation, and helplessness at the hands of its enemies” (Volkan Reference Volkan2013, 231). Volkan notes that traumas are more effective than glories for creating and perpetuating group identity (1997, 43). It may seem contradictory to consider a traumatic event a foundation on which the identity of a nation is built. As Daniel Bar-Tal underlines, however, “groups need to have a past as it is an important element in their collective identity showing that there is continuity in their existence and that they have a firm foundation for their uniqueness and solidarity” (2013, 172). This relation between the chosen trauma and the destiny of a nation gives the “community its distinctive character” (Smith 1999b, 17) and is a necessary component of the process of territorializing memory, which contributes to the formation of an ethnoscape. One particularity of the chosen traumas is that they can be reactivated in current contexts as people may perceive certain events as repetitions or manifestations of the past (Ramanathapillai Reference Ramanathapillai2012, 835; Takei Reference Takei1998, 62). These traumatic experiences “provide the key evaluative measure which enables us to assess other events in the group history” (Bar-Tal Reference Bar-Tal2014, 9).

1999–2013: Uncertainty as a Way of Life

Four major events have affected the Serbian community in Kosovo since 1999.Footnote ³ The importance of these events emerged during the fieldwork I conducted in December 2016 and between August 2017 and April 2018 in the four Serbian enclaves of Štrpce, Gračanica, Velika Hoča, and the Serbian quarter of Orahovac. All of these Serbian places are located in the Southern part of the Kosovo territory and it must be noted here that, depending on the enclave, the importance of events varies. For example, in Orahovac, Velika Hoča, and Štrpce, the inhabitants emphasized the NATO bombing in 1999, whereas the March 2004 pogroms appeared more relevant in Gračanica. In Orahovac and Velika Hoča, the bombing is described as aggression, whereas it is mostly defined as a war in Gračanica. Also, I do not presume here that these specific events did not have any emotional impact on the Serbian community in Serbia or even within the Serbian diaspora. However, they did not affect the Serbs in Serbia as they did the Serbs in Kosovo.

Studying the discursive construction of identity of Kosovo Serbs in southeastern Kosovo, Sanja Zlatanović (Reference Zlatanović2011) reveals that 1999 emerges as a temporal rupture in the discourses of those she interviewed. There is a “pre-1999 and post-1999, dividing so the time into ‘our’ and ‘their.’ Generally, the 1990’s, when Kosovo was under control of the Belgrade regime, are marked as ‘our time,’ while the period after 1999—as ‘their time’ (that is, Albanian)” (92). She states that the postwar era raised questions within the Serbian community in Kosovo, as people did not know whether they wanted to move or to stay in the territory. These concerns triggered a “feeling of vulnerability” (92). Those who decided to stay gathered in “enclaves” and still live within these territories today. Within these small pieces of land, the Serbian community has had to face, several challenges since 1999 that have impacted their well-being, self-esteem, and security. As Chris van der Borgh (Reference Van der Borgh2012, 37) notes, the riots that took place in 2004 nurtured a sense of insecurity which persists even now, partly because of the ongoing negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina under the guidance of the European Union. These negotiations “induced fear and a sense of insecurity in the Serbian community in Kosovo” (NGO Aktiv Reference Aktiv2016, 6) as they do not allow Kosovo Serbs to project themselves into the future. A report produced in 2015 stresses that one of the most striking issues for Kosovo Serbs—whether they live in the northern or the southern part of Kosovo—remains their physical security (Balkans Policy Research Group 2015, 5).Footnote ⁴ However, a study conducted by Orli Fridman (Reference Fridman2015) shows the Serbs’ willingness to overcome their fear and accept their new reality (mostly in the south of Kosovo) as it seems to be the only way to live and stay in this new entity. A resident of the Serbian enclave of Gračanica explained in 2009 that they have to participate in the political process to “protect themselves from Pristina’s repression, terror and discrimination” (Jovanovic and Alic Reference Jovanovic and Alic2018)

Enclavement and Marginalization Dynamics

Regardless of whether feelings of repression, discrimination, and insecurity are real or perceived, the perception alone is enough to start a cognitive process. Roger Petersen (Reference Petersen2002, 19) develops a theory of ethnic conflict based on emotion through which he explains that groups who experience status inversions and become a minority may tend to develop resentment as they lose their advantages. Also, the isolation inherent to Serbian enclavement might influence Serbs’ perception of marginalization as they are confronted with the difficulty of geographical isolation, notably due to the few means of transportation connecting them to other Kosovo Serbs cities or to Serbia, particularly in the enclaves situated in the southwestern part of the Kosovo territory. If Serbs decide to cross the border to enter into Serbian territory, they have to face a border control. Kosovo Serbs can also be easily identified by “foreign” and Serbian authorities because of the inscription Koordinaciona uprava (coordination directorate) on their official Serbian passports. Because of this inscription, they cannot benefit from traveling privileges such as those granted to Serbs from Serbia, and instead usually need a visa. These constraints exacerbate the perception of enclavement (Brachet Reference Brachet2005), as well as their psychological distance from Serbia (Oldberg Reference Oldberg2000, 6) and sense of marginalization.

Isolation may also be cultural, referring to a “minority linguistic, cultural, social, economic or political situation” (Guimond Reference Guimond2006, 1). As Claus Offe (Reference Offe1998, 2) notes, living in a minority context creates uncertainty and perception of marginalization by the dominant group. As the literature explains, when confronted with uncertainty, marginalization, discrimination, or what people perceive as being marginalization or discrimination, people lose their self-esteem and seek to mitigate these negative affects by categorizing themselves as members of another group (Turner et al. Reference Turner and A. Hogg1987; Verkuyten and Yildiz Reference Verkuyten and Yildiz2007, 1450; Hogg and Mullin Reference Hogg and Mullin1999, 249–279) that has a stronger internal cohesion. This stronger internal cohesion can notably be found in the religion that forms “an important meaning system for making sense of existence” (Greenberg, Solomon, and Pyszczynski 1997) and thus reduce uncertainty (Hogg Reference Hogg, Hogg and Blaylock2011).

The contributions of social psychology literature are particularly insightful here. It allows us to understand how the context within which Kosovo Serbs have lived since 1999 has led to the emergence of feelings of uncertainty and fear that impact intra- and intergroup processes. In order to analyze the interaction between these psycho-sociological dynamics and the textbooks’ narratives, I present the textbook narratives in the following section.

Fieldwork Research

In December 2016, I spent two weeks in Kosovo in order to evaluate the accessibility of my fieldwork and make some contacts with the local population. At this time I collected the textbooks.Footnote ⁵ The informal talks I had at this time led me to revise my research plan to focus on the four Serbian areas as I found that they reflect the various situations within which Serbs live in Kosovo. Štrpce and Gračanica are the biggest enclaves in Kosovo and constitute Serbian majoritarian municipalities. However, while Štrpce is naturally isolated in the mountains, Gračanica is close to Pristina, capital city of Kosovo, which, while Albanian, is also the administrative and cultural center for Kosovo Serbs. As in Gračanica, Serbs who live in the Serbian quarter of Orahovac live close to Kosovo Albanians but constitute a minority within the Albanian municipality of Orahovac, where Serbs from Velika Hoča also originate. In Velika Hoča, however, Serbs are more isolated than in Orahovac because of the contined existence of a protective zone implemented after 1999.Footnote ⁶

Between August 2017 and April 2018, I spent five months in Orahovac and Velika Hoča and two months in Gračanica and Štrpce. I chose to live with the Serbs in order to experience their living conditions, the challenges they faced, and the internal dynamics that pervade the community.Footnote ⁷ This also gave me not only privileged access to observations of the symbolic landscape during celebrations and political events, but also more awareness of the tensions that exist within the community and between the two major groups, the Kosovo Serbs and Kosovo Albanians.Footnote ⁸ Twelve interviews were conducted in Orahovac and Velika Hoča—with seven men and five women—which were complemented by many informal talks with locals. Ten interviews were conducted in Gračanica—with nine men and one woman—and seven in Štrpce—with six men and one woman. The ages of the interviewees ranged from mid-20s to 70 years old. The sample included interviews with political, religious, and cultural elites but also the local population. The interviews were semi-structured and focused on various themes: education, religion, politics, employment, and relations with Serbia. They were conducted mostly in English—sometimes with an interpreter, sometimes without—or in Serbian in some cases.Footnote ⁹ The language limitations on the parts of both the researcher and the interviewees when the interviews were conducted in English without an interpreter must be taken into account, as they affect the results presented in this analysis. Indeed, my language limitations have hindered a deeper contextual study of the textbook material.

Iterative Approach as Methodological Framework

The fieldwork observations and interviews constitute a fundamental part of this analysis as they reveal the perceptions and feelings that arise from the local enclaved population. However, I use them here only as examples of the environmental dynamics that pervade the Serbian enclaved community.Footnote ¹⁰ The primary sources were the eight public school history textbooks from two different publishers—Zavod za uzbenike and Logos—that are used from grades five to eight in primary schools located in Štrpce, Gračanica, Velika Hoča, and the Serbian quarter of Orahovac.Footnote ¹¹

Elementary school is composed of a total of eight grades, for children ages 7 to 15. The ninth grade constitutes the first year of secondary school, which includes four additional grades beyond that (and can be vocational), for youth ages 15 to 19. I focused on the four grades of history education in elementary school, grades five through nine (for students 11 to 15), because they constitute a common basis of teaching and learning.

The Zavod textbooks are produced by the Serbian state publishing house, whereas the edition of Logos textbooks is produced by private publishers or nongovernmental organizations. Even though education in the Serbian areas of Kosovo is officially under the control of the Kosovo Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, created in 2002, the Ahtisaari PlanFootnote ¹² provides the Serbian municipalities with the ability to cooperate with Serbia, particularly in the field of education (Pierre Reference Pierre2015, 126; Arraiza Reference Arraiza2014, 22; Di Lellio et al. Reference Di Lellio, Fridman, Hercigonja and Hoxha2017, 21). In the Serbian places that are not situated within Serbian municipalities, Kosovo Serbs manage to procure the textbooks (interview by author, Orahovac, December 2016). The selected textbooks were published between 2008 and 2016 and cover a period of time ranging from the prehistoric age to the disintegration of Yugoslavia, and they are built around a table of content that is very similar. Their average number of pages is 185, and they have been written by a variety of authors.

To carry out this study, I used a two-step approach combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Using an iterative approach, I started by personally coding 10 percent of each chapter—representing one to four pages—of the eight textbooks to reveal categories of analysis that I then used to code the entire textbooks. Eight categories emerged (see Table 1)Footnote ¹³: religion, conflict, Serbia, territory, Islam, culture, historical figures, and “Others.” These categories were chosen because of their repeated appearance in the texts or because they are particularly relevant to the research question. Throughout this phase, some terms were added to the coding process, but others were also removed. For example, within the religion category, I first coded all the terms related to religion together, including those in relation to Christianity and Islam. Because of the particular emphasis on Ottoman Turks—who are Muslim—throughout the textbooks, and also because Albanians—also Muslim—now constitute the majority of the Kosovo territory, I finally decided to create a separate Islam category. I also confined the religion category to Orthodoxy and removed the terms related to Christianity more broadly. The category of culture excludes religion. I wanted to study the importance of language or traditions within the textbooks. It appeared that this category was not so relevant. Serbia is a category by itself, as I only coded the noun Serbia. It was presented so many times that it seemed impossible not to include it. The categories of historical figures and “Others” were very wide as I coded all the historical figures and “Others” I found in the textbooks. I decided to use this strategy as I wanted to reveal who were those emphasized and those (almost) ignored. As a result, larger entities of which Serbia was a part of were coded as “Others.” This choice is consistent with research that seeks to understand the Serbian community, which also means analyzing how relations with other groups within these entities are presented. Lastly, I withdrew the category dedicated to conflict vocabulary, because the analysis was focused on history textbooks and history is mostly composed of conflicts. It thus seemed normal that the vocabulary of conflict composed a large part of each book.Footnote ¹⁴ This category, however, was useful during the second part of the study.

Table 1 Categories of analysis except historical figures and “Others”²⁰

Results of the Analysis: Ruptures and Continuities

I then continued with an in-depth analysis of the categories that were revealed during the first phase. I measured their importance by focusing on the frequency of the codes’ occurrence. I also analyzed sentences or paragraphs when codes appeared several times within them or when they were associated several times with vocabularies of violence and conflict. The results highlight ruptures and continuities with the previous Serbian history textbooks.

Notably, the results show a balanced point of view regarding Yugoslavia, as Serbian history is included in chapters dedicated to Yugoslav history in the eighth-grade history textbooks. This contrasts with the narratives presented after the fall of Milošević. At that time, the reforms that took place in 2000 promoted “a strong anti-Yugoslav and anti-communist interpretation of events” (George Reference George2014, 33; Stojanović Reference Stojanović2009, 143), in order to sustain the new reality of Serbia independence (Di Lellio et al. Reference Di Lellio, Fridman, Hercigonja and Hoxha2017, 21–22). The nationalistic focus is, however, maintained as Serbian history (and Yugoslav history) is studied separately from world history. In the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, Serbian (or Yugoslav) history accounts about 50 percent of the different books, with two exceptions: Zavod grades six and seven, where Serbian content respectively accounts for about 62.5 percent and 39.8 percent of each book. For grade five, Zavod’s textbook devotes one chapter and one sub-chapter to Serbian history, whereas Logos’s textbook refers to Serbia only in some pages and a sub-chapter. An analysis of chapters dealing with Serbian people or Serbian land balanced this last tendency: Logos’s textbooks are the ones focusing mainly on Serbia, and the word appears more often.Footnote ¹⁵

Probably linked to this observation, the preliminary analysis reveals that the Logos textbooks also emphasize territory, whereas the Zavod textbooks focus on religion. This finding shows the strengthening of the religious category. (This issue is discussed below.) It has to be noted here that Islam is also more preeminent in the Zavod textbooks than it is in the Logos textbooks and contributes to supporting the preeminence of the religion in the material for these grades.

The Albanians, who were presented as the main enemies in previous history textbooks, are almost absent in the textbooks analyzed here. Indeed, during the Milošević period, Albanians became the main enemy, as history textbooks emphasized “Albanian crimes against Kosovo Serbs” among others (Janjetović Reference Janjetović2002, 247–252). This depiction of Albanians in history textbooks has continued despite the fall of Milošević and the introduction of reforms in 2000. In the present analysis, however, Albanian or Albanian nouns appear 47 times in Logos’s textbooks and 27 times in Zavod’s. The Albanian uprisings that took place from 1830 to 1912 are totally ignored, just as Serbian textbooks are silent, for example, on the lack of Albanians schools in the 18th century (Gashi Reference Gashi2016, 51–65). Albanians are also presented in relation to the crimes they committed against Kosovo Serbs.Footnote ¹⁶ Nonetheless, four main “Others” may be identified in the textbooks: the Slavic people, the Ottomans, the Turks, and Yugoslavia. Greece is particularly emphasized in both collections destined for grade five.

The preeminence of Yugoslavia needs to be nuanced. Indeed, the noun Yugoslavia appears 235 times in Logos’s textbooks compared to 159 times in Zavod’s. This result is consistent with the emphasis put on Tito’s figure in the Logos textbooks—Tito appears 51 times in the Logos textbooks but 13 times in the Zavod textbooks. Tamara Pavasović Trošt (Reference Trošt2014) presents the various trends regarding Tito’s representation within the Serbian history textbooks from the socialist era until 2010. She shows that during the socialist period Tito was described in positive terms but was gradually removed from the textbooks during the ethno-nationalist period. She stresses the use of a neutral tone which coincides with the reintroduction of Tito’s figure in the textbooks published between 2001 and 2005. After 2005, Tito is mostly presented through his role on the world stage (152–158).

The victimization and suffering of the Serbian people is also an enduring theme clearly linked to the struggles experienced by Serbs. As is the case for many nations, Serbian history consists largely of successive struggles linked to the delimitation of Serbian borders and these events are reported and presented in history textbooks. In this matter, the succession of wars and battles in Serbian history textbooks may appear understandable. However, this emphasis on conflicts emerged after the disintegration of Yugoslavia that led to a dilution of elements of unity previously created under communist rule (Koulouri Reference Koulouri2002, 25). A more detailed observation also reveals that textbooks include a significant number of images that depict bloody fights. These struggles for territorial control are often associated with the domination and submission of the Serbian nation by and to the victors. This tendency begins with the Arab conquest and is later pursued under the subjects of Bulgarian and Ottoman rule. For example, Serbs during the Arab conquest in 556 CE are presented in Logos’s grade six book as forced to cooperate by the Arabs (61). In the same chapter, the term forced is used again, associated with submission (70) or slavery (72) in relation to the Bulgarian state. The Serbian nation also continues to be depicted as suffering under foreign oppression during World War II, when it faced Croatian massacres of its people. The Battle of Kosovo Polje that took place in 1389 and that was mentioned at the end of the grade six books marks the onset of the period of domination. Gashi notes that “after the end of the rule of King Dušan in 1355, no episode from Serbian rule in Kosovo, which lasted until 1415, is presented other than the Battle of Kosovo in 1389” (2016, 35). The absence of other episodes that took place during this period reveals the central significance of this battle for the Serbian identity.Footnote ¹⁷ The Battle of Kosovo Polje is a turning point in Serbian history as it signifies the end of the Serbian Golden Age, but also the beginning of centuries of oppression and submission under Ottoman rule. Even if the Serbian nation has faced other historical defeats on the battlefield and other nations at certain points in time can be identified as significant “Others,” the “Muslim Turks” remain, throughout history, the “Other” group from “which the Serbian identity was defined” (Khan Reference Khan1996, 50).

Strengthening of a Religious Identity

After the Kosovo Polje battle, the Serbian Orthodox Church was the only Serbian institution that existed and through which Serbian identity, language, and culture was maintained. In the textbooks, the religious dimension of Serbian identity develops a perspective that diverges from submission and domination. For example, monasteries are depicted as fortresses, and historical figures who are related to this category do not harbor any notion of sacrifice. In fact, it is quite the contrary, as they highlight the survival—but also the magnificence—of the Serbian nation. In the first place, I note the high volume of the material in the textbooks that is dedicated to religion, particularly in grade six. For this grade, textbooks are almost entirely dedicated to the religious wars that tore southeastern Europe apart during the Middle Ages. The cover of Zavod’s Istorija 6 (Rade Reference Rade2008) is an image of Stefan Nemanja and the cover of Logos’s Istorija 6 (Vekić-Kočić, Kočić, and Lopandić Reference Vekić-Kočić, Kočić and Lopandić2016) depicts the monastery of Gračanica. For the chapters dedicated to Serbian history, the analysis reveals that Nemanja is one of the five most-cited historical figures in the textbooks; the others are Stefan Dušan, King Lazar, Karađorđe, and Tito. Nemanja was canonized by the Serbian Church (Khan Reference Khan1996, 50) and is presented as the founder of the Serbian nation. He was also the father of Sveti Sava (Saint Sava), the creator of the Serbian Orthodox Church (autocephaly). An entire chapter in each Istorija 7, the two grade seven books, is also dedicated to the patriarchate of Peć, a town on Kosovo territory, who was the first patriarchate of the Serbian Orthodox Church (Antić and Bondžić Reference Antić and Bondžić2012, 56–59; Dušan 2009, 61–65). The religious dimension of Serbian identity is thus extremely linked to the territory of Kosovo and highlights two other aspects of Serbian identity: its survival and its magnificence.Footnote ¹⁸