Yugo-nostalgia
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Yugo-nostalgia is a little-studied psychological and cultural phenomenon found among the populations of the former Yugoslavia, in the present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia. When used unironically, it refers to an emotional longing for a time past when the splintered states were a part of one country, a grief about the war that tore it apart, and a desire to again unite. Self-described "Yugonostalgics" may assert their grief that brotherly love, unity, and coexistence failed, while division and nationalism won, or they may assert that their quality of life was better.
While its anthropological and sociological aspects have not been extensively studied, it can also be used negatively and ethnocentrically to denigrate someone usually of the same ethnic background who expresses sympathy or statement of support for any aspect of Yugoslavia against the prevailing nationalist zeitgeist.
Present cultural and economic manifestations of Yugo-nostalgia include music groups with Yugoslav or Titoist retro iconography, art works, films, theater performances, and many organized, themed tours of the main cities of the former Yugoslav republics. The notion of Yugo-nostalgia should not be confused with Yugoslavism which is the ideology behind the unity of South Slavic nations. The concepts have some overlap but Yugo-nostalgia celebrates the pre-1991 period whereas Yugoslavism and Yugoslav reunification (as a branch of pan-Slavism) are an ongoing mindset just as likely to appeal to persons born after the breakup of Yugoslavia that feel their national interests may be best served by unification.
According to a Gallup poll from 2017, 81% of Serbs think that the breakup of Yugoslavia harmed their country, while 77% of Bosnians and Herzegovinians and 65% of Macedonians agree. Only 4% of Serbs think that the break-up of Yugoslavia was beneficial for their country, while just 6% of Bosniaks and 15% of Montenegrins feel positive about the split. In Croatia, 55% of respondents saw the break-up as beneficial and just 23% as harmful. In Slovenia, 41% see the break-up as beneficial while 45% think it was harmful. The highest number of respondents who welcomed the break-up of Yugoslavia were in Kosovo which declared independence in 2008, where 75% said the split was beneficial and only 10% regretted it.
See also
- Yugoslavism
- Titoism
- Balkanization
- Yugoslavs
- Communist nostalgia, similar phenomena elsewhere
- Tito's Blue Train
- Ostalgie
