Memory in the Balkans has often been described as binding authoritative and non-negotiable
functioning as a banner of war. This book challenges such a one-dimensional representation and
offers a more nuanced analysis that accommodates frequently ignored instances of transnational
solidarity dialogue communal mourning and working through a difficult past. Exploring a broad
range of memorial practices the book focuses on the ways in which cultural memory is mediated
performed and critically reworked by literature and the arts in the former Yugoslavia. Against
the methodological nationalism of works that study Serbian Croatian or Bosniak culture as
self-contained this book examines post-Yugoslav literature film visual culture and
politicized art practices from a supranational angle. Not solely focusing on traumatic memories
but also exploring how post-Yugoslav cultural practices mobilize memory for a politics of hope
this volume moves beyond the trauma paradigm that still dominates memory studies. In its scope
and approach the book shows the relevance of the cultural memory of Eastern European citizens
and the contribution they can offer to the building of Europe's shared cultural memory and
transnational identity.
