The politics of poetry in Bosnia and Herzegovina: re-assessing tradition since the late 1980s

This thesis documents and critically evaluates contemporary poetry within the dynamic field of the cultural production in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the late 1980s. It interrogates and challenges competing literary historiographies on behalf of marginalised voices. While ethno-nationalists politically fought to affirm their vision of society amidst rapidly discredited socialism, liberal conformists increasingly replaced politics with culture, disregarding the dissident practices that offered political alternatives to identity, belonging, and commonality. I analyse how this struggle has played out in the field of cultural production, particularly within and among the three strands of poetry which I categorise according to the world-view they endorse as related practices. I investigate how these strands—poetry of re-ethnicization poetry of false universalization; and poetry of differences—contest over signification across three main socio-historical phases: prewar crisis and collapse of socialism; war and postwar. Drawing on theories of a materialist critique of culture, primarily on works by Terry Eagleton, Slavoj Zizek, Raymond Williams, and Alan Sinfield, I intervene in the cultural memory of Bosnia and Herzegovina and establish a tradition of dissidence, which I locate in the marginalised alternative practices of feminists, gays and lesbians, and some members of the younger generations. I record and uphold dissident commitment to re-politicisation in poetry throughout. The networks of actors involved in this contestation also include publishers, researchers, and translators, extending beyond Bosnia and Herzegovina. Poetry translation in particular, on which this thesis rests, is explored as a means of cross-cultural exchange with the capacity to foster ties and solidarities amongst those who oppose exclusion and marginalisation. The thesis makes the case that a political critique of culture provides a platform on which to recognise, name, and foster a much needed politically transformative potential. Such a platform contributes to a more hopeful politics.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

PhD

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

De Montfort University

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Arsenijevic, Damir

Licence

• https://dora.dmu.ac.uk/bitstreams/95affd5d-abba-43ca-a0e5-5e81d91b478c/download