The Balkans as a European inner otherness

Abstract

In this paper the author attempts to re-examine the importance of the Balkans in the imagery of (Western) Europe. Three points are highlighted: the necessity of mediation of Europe's identity through the Otherness, peculiarities of Europe's perception of the Balkans, and influence of the construction of this allegedly unitary, external identity of the Balkans on self-perception of peoples from the Peninsula. An effort is made to show how the internal complexity of the European identity directly and inevitably affected different, not only Balkan, cultural Othernesses and how it is peculiar for the Balkans not to be recognized by the West as sufficiently different Otherness.

U ovom članku autor nastoji da ispita važnost uloge Balkana u predstavnom svijetu (Zapadne) Evrope. Želimo da osvijetlimo tri momenta: nužnost posredovanosti bića Evrope drugošću, neobičnost evropskog opažanja Balkana i uticaj konstrukcije ovog tobožnjeg jedinstvenog, spoljašnjeg identiteta Balkana na samopercepciju naroda s Poluostrva. U tekstu je učinjen napor da se pokaže kako se unutrašnja složenost evropskog identiteta neposredno i neizbježno ticala drugih, ne samo balkanskih, kulturnih drugosti, i kako je za Balkan osobeno to što njega Zapad ne priznaje kao dovoljno različitu drugost.