Kosovo and Metohija and Serbian cultural identity between Albanian nationalism and Serbian auto-chauvinism

The systematic threat and appropriation of Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo and Metohija by the bearers of the Albanian nationalist project is in the function of building an Albanianised "Kosovo" identity. Serbs are faced, on the one hand, with the physical destruction of their own cultural heritage - such as the burning of 35 shrines during the March Pogrom (2004), and on the other hand, with the aggressive "Kosovisation" of Serbian monumental heritage, which is presented as Albanian cultural heritage. This paper presents a view that the appropriation of Serbian culture in Kosovo should be contextualized as part of a long-term policy of the so-called settler colonies, whose goal is to remove the indigenous population and establish a new demographic, cultural and state identity. The second part of the paper describes how "inverse nationalism" in Serbia takes over all the main positions of Albanian chauvinism, including the "Kosovisation" of Serbian cultural heritage, and the denial of its Serbian cultural character. This type of internalisation of the position of hostile nationalism takes place as an effect of the overdetermination of Atlanticist structures that are dominant both in Serbia and in Kosovo. Thus, the Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo is doubly threatened - not only by Albanian chauvinism, but also by Serbian inverse nationalism, which makes its future vulnerable. However, with the weakening of Atlanticist structures in the process of pluralisation and democratisation of the world order, one can expect a relaxation of this double pressure, and ultimately a historical turn towards the reintegration of Kosovo and Metohija into the constitutional and legal order of Serbia.