"Celebrating oneself": The European review of Serbian folk dancing as a place of construction and commoditization of identity

Abstract

Migration is a complex socio-political and economic process which, in Yugoslavia, began after WWII in the 1950's. When they left for, what they then believed would be temporary work; Yugoslavs had permanently settled in Western European countries and developed a new cultural context which they inhabit to this day. One of the phenomena which had arisen from this cultural context are Serbian clubs, which came into being through the disintegration of Yugoslav clubs which had started in the 1980's, influenced by the socio-political events in the home country. Since the 1990's, following nationalist ideology, the manifestation entitled the European review of Serbian folklore, by Serbs in the Diaspora and the region, which will be the topic of this paper, came into being. I believe this to be one of the most important manifestations when it comes to considering the politics of work and relationships among Serbian clubs in the Diaspora. However, upon deeper analysis, one sees its dominant economic aspect which is usually covered by the idea of "authenticity". It is my goal in this paper to deconstruct the phenomenon, so I will view the European review through five pairs of oppositions.