‘Balkansplaining’ Europe: Epistemic resistance and the negotiation of belonging in the post-Yugoslav Balkans

The article examines the internalisation of narratives that position the post-Yugoslav Balkans as Europe’s ‘Other’ within the region itself, through the lens of self-colonisation, understood as the adoption of civilising discourses and the disavowal of local pasts in the pursuit of ‘Europeanness’. Drawing on post-socialist and decolonial scholarship, we explore how the post-Yugoslav Balkans not only respond to but actively participate in the production of Europe’s symbolic geography. Using qualitative data from interviews and focus groups conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, we examine how citizens articulate, contest, and negotiate visions of Europe across socioeconomic, political, and cultural registers. Our analysis reveals a complex and often ambivalent relationship with Europe, expressed through the concept of Balkansplaining, a decolonial tool that centres lived experiences and regional epistemologies. By focusing on Balkan subjects, we uncover potential spaces of epistemic resistance and alternatives to dominant visions of Europe, thereby opening avenues to reimagine it.