Belgrade

Since the collapse of Yugoslavia, the official interpretation of history in Serbia has changed fundamentally: In socialist Yugoslavia, the heroicised partisan struggle against the Nazis was at the centre of memory. Historical and political conflicts were concealed under the slogan of ‘brotherhood and unity’ and surfaced in the nationalism of the 1990s. The successor states of Yugoslavia – including Serbia – constructed homogenising national identities and, in some cases, distanced themselves from the idea of Yugoslavia in a historical revisionist manner, which created new conflicts of remembrance. Against this background, museums in Serbia play different roles as identity-forming institutions: They can reinforce, question, or counteract national narratives. During the excursion to Belgrade, we will explore Serbia's contested recent past through city tours and museum visits in dialogue with local experts: Which layers of identity-forming memory are visible in urban space? Which historical events do Belgrade’s museums focus on? To what extent do museums resist the uniformity of heterogeneous identities and historical experiences? What place do minorities occupy and demand in the museum landscape? And (where) is there a consideration of the Yugoslav wars in the museums?