The Symbolic Balkan Modus Operandi and Modus Vivendi : Different Politics of the Balkan Discursive/Narrative “Approximations”

The centrality of the Balkan issue has, during the last thirty years and even before, often been equated with extreme political contexts- armed conflicts. The most common explication of this state of affairs, aside from global international political trends/intereventions is, one-sidedly and shallowly, seen in the alleged inherent aggressive nationalism, historically rooted and/or transferred by the radicalization of the distinction of tribal/national pasts and in the liminal position of the marginalized and minorized Balkans in between the West and the East. It seems as if the Balkans is in some state of “frozen”, never ended or perpetuated identity-profiled disintegration, violence and antagonisms. However, the liminality in understanding the Balkans need not point to marginality and irrelevance of the “Balkan political gloss/scholia”, which indeed, best and most poignantly articulate the overlapping discourses that create and reflect it. In order for the detected status of discursive “liminal centrality” to be extensively explored, this paper will be divided into three parts. In the first part will present and examine the concepts of narrative, constellation and codification, as essential methodological-instrumental prerequisites for the comprehension and research of Balkan imaginaries. The second part will offer a detailed explication of the concept of post-colonialism as the paradigmatic lens for its comprehension/perception, but also for its pro-active “surpassing”/resistance. In the third part, understanding of the Balkans as an “objectivized” entity of Balkanism will be deconstructively juxtaposed to the Balkans as a “textualized” representation of Orientalism and Post-colonialism.