Linguistic Landscapes at the margins: Performativity of ethnic belonging and memory politics in Croatian post-conflict border regions

• Applicant: Dr. Roswitha Kersten-Pejanic
• Subject Area: Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology ; Individual Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
• Term: from 2018 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 401363951

The project "Linguistic Landscapes at the margins: Performativity of ethnic belonging and memory politics in Croatian post-conflict border regions" is aimed at analyzing the linguistic landscape in two rural border regions and former war sites in Croatia. A central focus will be on the examination of persisting linguistic signs of ethnic and nationalist tension in the public space. The continuing influence of the war and, hence, the status of this space as a post-conflict site is of particular analytic importance for this research project. By using a triangulated methodological approach based on an ethnographic perspective on language use, the interrelations of linguistic signs in public space, their political messages, the corresponding ideological origin, as well as the their temporality (i.e., both the historical context in which they were produced as well as the current time, which these linguistic signs are still influencing), will be examined.The planned project will make an active contribution to the methodological development of Linguistic Landscape Studies (LLS) by concentrating on rural landscapes, while most research in LLS so far has focused on the study of urban areas. Furthermore, the project is drawing the attention of this emerging field of ethnographic studies on language use to South Eastern Europe, which allows adding a particularly fascinating set of material and analyses given the loaded legacy of (language) politics in this region.Conducting the planned research activities at the Center for Advanced Studies – South Eastern Europe - CAS SEE in Rijeka, Croatia, will both enable best conditions for the planned field work and the further elaboration of an international and interdisciplinary network and an academic career in Southeast European Area Studies. The project will be the first of a series of research projects on the interconnection of language, politics and ideologies in Southeast Europe which will allow the applicant to pursue her academic career path.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: Croatia
• Host: Professorin Sanja Bojanic, Ph.D.