Discussing the complex weave of cultural links and the different religious and linguistic groups that have been living side by side in the Balkans for centuries, this anthropological study is the result of a project initiated to create a network of scholars from Scandinavia and the Yugoslav successor states devoted to the study of post-Yugoslav cultural and political developments. Nine papers on problems of cultural boundaries are presented with the idea of countering the picture of the Balkans as a huge borderland where irresolvable age-old ethnic and religious rivalries will inevitably cause conflict as informed by stereotypes and oversimplifications. Topics include the historical crossing of religious borderlines, the legitimizing efforts of elites to create national identities, struggles to declare "ownership" over the origins of a particular musical instrument, and similar topics.

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• On Religious and Cultural Borderlines in Southeastern Europe
  • Some Thoughts on the Character of Cultural Borderlines
  • Borderlines in Southeast Europe
  • Perspectives and Conclusions
• Weak States, Uncivil Societies and Thousands of NGOs: Benevolent Colonialism in the Balkans
  • Project Life in the Balkans
  • Projects as Flows and as Power
  • New Elites and Informal Structures
  • Conclusion: Benevolent Colonialism
  • References
• South Slav Traditional Culture as a Means to Political Legitimization
• Who owns the Gusle? - A contribution to Research on the Political History of a Balkan Instrument
  • Introduction
  • Political Meanings of the Gusle
  • Educating the People
  • The Political Fate of a Musical Instrument
• Women Partisans as Willing Executioners in Croatian Popular Memory of the 1990s
  • Gendered Ethnic Cultures and their Potential for War Violence
  • Heroines of the Past or Willing Executioners
  • On the Remasculinization of the Moral Victors and the Feminization of the Morally Defeated
  • Ambivalent Figures of Partisan Armed Maidens
  • The Obscenity of Women’s Bonds with Totalitarian and Ethnic Violence
  • References
• Bosnia and Herzegovina: Boundaries and Permeation
• Non-ethnic Condemnation in Post-War Stolac - An Ethnographic Case-Study from Bosnia-Herzegovina
  • Ethnic Condemnation as one Kind of Condemnation Among Others
  • Different Categories of Croats
  • The Situational Aspect of Ethnic Categories
  • Discussion
  • References
• Establishing and Dissolving Cultural Boundaries - Croatian Culture in Diasporic Contexts
  • Introduction
  • Boundaries Attempted (Between the Balkans and Europe)
  • Boundaries at Stake (Between the Croatian and the B/K/S language)
  • Boundaries Established (Folklore as Croatian Culture)
  • Boundaries Dissolved (Catholicism and the Nation)
  • Conclusion (From Emblems to Kaleidoscopes?)
  • References
• Ex-Home: “Balkan Culture” in Slovenia after 1991
  • Introduction: from Red to Yellow Star
  • “Balkan Culture” in “the Slovenian Way”
  • A. “Balkan Culture” as Inertia
  • B. “Balkan Culture” as Innovation and Self-Identification
  • C. “Balkan Culture” as Joke, Provocation/Subversion, and Revolt
  • Conclusion: “Balkan culture” between Opposition and Complement
  • References
• Notes
• About the Authors