The National Self: Serbia's Identity

The concept of national identity is a complex idea that can be understood in different ways, but it is almost always shaped around the idea of sameness within a group of people. While some theorists have claimed that national identity is natural and tied to blood relations, others have attributed it to modern events, defining it as changeable instead of innate (Now & Then, 2018). These different theories of what creates this feeling of shared identity exist because national identity is essentially made up. National identity is a recent concept that grew as “people came to see their countries as extensions of themselves” (The New York Times, 2018). These self-perceived identities, which can be based on shared values, shared cultures, a shared race, or differences from other groups, add to the story each nation tells about itself. Similarly, the national identity of Serbia cannot be perfectly laid out as it has been constructed from various places. 

History and Cultural Divides 

Serbia has been through many changes in its history. After being ruled for many years by the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary, it became a part of Yugoslavia in the year 1929 and until 2003. In 2003 Serbia was a part of the loose federation, Serbia and Montenegro, until becoming its own independent country in 2006 (Encyclopædia Britannica, n.d.). Throughout these shifts, Serbia has been grouped together with many other nations. Yugoslavia included the current countries of Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Montenegro, along with Serbia. While they all share a connected history and some similar parts of their cultures, they are also separated by some distinct features. These similarities and differences contribute to what Serbia views as part of their national identity. 

The Influence of the Orthodox Church

According to the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook (2021), the primary religion of Serbia is Orthodox Christianity, which is practiced by 84.6% of their population. The country’s culture has been deeply tied to the Serbian Orthodox Church since it was founded in 1219 and most Serbians place great importance on their Orthodox faith because the church has been “the only institution which has continually preserved the tradition and the historical memories of the Serbian people” (Vasić, 2013, p. 127). Despite the constant shifts in Serbia’s past and religious oppression from the Ottoman Empire, the church has remained a constant part of Serbia’s culture and identity. This can explain why what Vasic (2013) refers to as “traditional religious behavior” (p. 55) is so common in Serbia. Traditional religious behavior is the involvement with the cultural aspects of the church. People in Serbia will follow orthodox customs like celebrating Saint’s Day or owning religious symbols because they view them as a part of who they are. Those actions have become traditions because they have stayed the same regardless of other changes, making them deeply important to people. Some other countries that were formerly part of Yugoslavia, like Montenegro and Macedonia, also practice Orthodox Christianity but others are primarily Roman Catholic, Muslim, or have a larger variety of practiced religions. This makes the Orthodox church a distinctive feature of Serbian national identity. 

Additionally, the Cyrillic alphabet, which is used in the Serbian language as well as various other languages, was developed for Slavic-speaking people of the Orthodox faith. This tie between Serbia’s language and the church, reinforces how important Orthodox Christianity is to Serbia’s identity. The very visible difference of using a different alphabet also culturally separated Serbia from countries like Croatia and Slovenia, whose languages used another alphabet (Encyclopædia Britannica, n.d.). 

The Effect of “Othering” 

Another concept that is important to consider when placing together a country’s national identity is othering.  While national identity can be formed from the culture within the nation, it can also be built around the distinction between the nation and another group, also known as the other. As described by Triandafyllidou (1998), a significant other is a group that is perceived to threaten the identity of a nation, or more specifically its “distinctiveness, authenticity and/or independence” (p. 594). There are various types of significant others that can shape a country’s national identity in different ways. One possibility is an external significant other, which is a different political unit than the nation. Another possibility is an internal significant other, which is a group within the same political unit. Serbia’s identity has been shaped by various significant others because it has had so many disputes with its neighbors. 

The Yugoslav Wars were a series of conflicts and fights in the 1990’s surrounding the end of Yugoslavia, as the involved republics began to get independence as their own countries. At this time, Serbian people were spread throughout Yugoslavia which created a Serbian desire for a “Greater Serbia” (Encyclopædia Britannica, n.d.). Under the leadership of President Slobodan Milošević, Serbia wanted a centralized Serbian state, or Greater Serbia, that also included the Serbian populated areas in places like Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo. This made Serbia the aggressor of many of these wars. Even though the former republics of Yugoslavia eventually seceded instead of joining Serbia, the value that Serbia placed on this effort reveals a lot about who they are. These other groups represented external significant others for Serbia. They were “neighbors of the ingroup … in possession of lands that the ingroup claim[ed] to be part of its own territory, namely the nation’s irredenta” (Triandafyllidou, 1998, p. 602). Serbia viewed these groups as a threat because they separated many Serbian people from Serbia, which they believed could threaten the integrity of Serbia. 

Those actions have shown that Serbia considers the Serb ethnicity to be part of their identity and has in some ways given an aggressor identity to Serbia, who has historically put emphasis on both uniting all Serbian people, regardless of the country they are living in, and on extending their territory. They also tend to view themselves very highly. Currently, this ideology is still seen in Serbia’s refusal to recognize Kosovo as an independent nation. Kosovo, which was previously part of the Kingdom of Serbia, became a province of Serbia in the 1940’s, and then declared their independence in 2008. Serbia still considers that land part of Serbia, despite having no control over it. The desire for this land can be tied back to multiple aspects of the national identity of Serbia. Kosovo has an ethnic minority of Serbs, it has Serbian as an official language, and it contains many churches that are important to the Serbian Orthodox faith (Encyclopædia Britannica, n.d.). Since these are all things that Serbians consider part of who they are, they tend to still see Kosovo as an extension of themselves. 

While the national identity of Serbia is complex and may include many other aspects, much of it appears to be built around their religion, language, and the unity of the Serb people. 

 

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References

Central Intelligence Agency. (2022). Serbia. In CIA World Factbook. Retrieved January 22, 2022 from https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/serbia/ 

Encyclopædia Britannica. (n.d.). Kosovo. In Britannica Academic. Retrieved January 24, 2022, from https://academic-eb-com.proxy.seattleu.edu/levels/collegiate/article/Kosovo/46111

Encyclopædia Britannica. (n.d.). Serbia. In Britannica Academic. Retrieved January 22, 2022, from https://academic-eb-com.proxy.seattleu.edu/levels/collegiate/article/Serbia/110572

The New York Times. (2018, Feb. 28). How Nations Make Up National Identities [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9qF6FvwrHI&t=31s

Then & Now. (2018, July 28). Theories of Nationalism and National Identity: An Introduction [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwv9XjTZh2c

Triandafyllidou, A. (1998). National identity and the “Other.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 21(4), 593–612. https://doi.org/10.1080/014198798329784

Vasić, J. (2013). Religious and national identity of young intellectuals in Serbia. In Blagojević , M., Maksimović, J. J., & Bajović, T (Eds.), (Post)Secular turn: religious, moral and socio-political values of the student population in serbia (pp. 121-165). Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory.