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Chapter 9. Epistemes of contemporary nationhood

Narrations of the past, legitimations of the future

Abstract

This chapter aims to map the configurations of dominant epistemes of the contemporary Serb nationhood in Republika Srpska (RS) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) as truth claims in the current social hegemony founded on discourses legitimizing the 1992–1995 wars. By engaging in a combination of archeological-genealogical and a discourse historical approach to critical discourse analysis (DHA CDA), I analyze three types of elite discourses shaping the postwar cultural politics in Republika Srpska (RS): the poetic, the philosophical and political discourse. More specifically, I focus on the trope of history repeating, which, as an extended metaphor, also realizes its argumentative potential and becomes a topos of history, visible in the legitimation of the Srebrenica genocide preempting the potential Serb pogrom like the one in World War II, securing the epistemic warranty of contemporary Serb nationhood and providing a raison d’être for the Republika Srpska.

Abstract

This chapter aims to map the configurations of dominant epistemes of the contemporary Serb nationhood in Republika Srpska (RS) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) as truth claims in the current social hegemony founded on discourses legitimizing the 1992–1995 wars. By engaging in a combination of archeological-genealogical and a discourse historical approach to critical discourse analysis (DHA CDA), I analyze three types of elite discourses shaping the postwar cultural politics in Republika Srpska (RS): the poetic, the philosophical and political discourse. More specifically, I focus on the trope of history repeating, which, as an extended metaphor, also realizes its argumentative potential and becomes a topos of history, visible in the legitimation of the Srebrenica genocide preempting the potential Serb pogrom like the one in World War II, securing the epistemic warranty of contemporary Serb nationhood and providing a raison d’être for the Republika Srpska.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. Chapter 1. Introduction 1
  5. Chapter 2. Diffuse messages as aggression and violence in political discourse 23
  6. Chapter 3. The conflict about the 1940 Katyn’ massacre and the 2010 declaration of the Russian State Duma 39
  7. Chapter 4. Gay rights as a symbol of ideological struggles between Russia and the West 69
  8. Chapter 5. More than keywords 93
  9. Chapter 6. Delegitimization strategies in Czech parliamentary discourse 119
  10. Chapter 7. Impoliteness in parliamentary questions 147
  11. Chapter 8. Discursive construction of ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ 179
  12. Chapter 9. Epistemes of contemporary nationhood 211
  13. Chapter 10. Under One Sun? 239
  14. Chapter 11. Epilogue 265
  15. Index 267
Political Discourse in Central, Eastern and Balkan Europe
This chapter is in the book Political Discourse in Central, Eastern and Balkan Europe
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.84.09maj

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. Chapter 1. Introduction 1
  5. Chapter 2. Diffuse messages as aggression and violence in political discourse 23
  6. Chapter 3. The conflict about the 1940 Katyn’ massacre and the 2010 declaration of the Russian State Duma 39
  7. Chapter 4. Gay rights as a symbol of ideological struggles between Russia and the West 69
  8. Chapter 5. More than keywords 93
  9. Chapter 6. Delegitimization strategies in Czech parliamentary discourse 119
  10. Chapter 7. Impoliteness in parliamentary questions 147
  11. Chapter 8. Discursive construction of ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ 179
  12. Chapter 9. Epistemes of contemporary nationhood 211
  13. Chapter 10. Under One Sun? 239
  14. Chapter 11. Epilogue 265
  15. Index 267
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