KOSOVO AND MODELS OF COLLECTIVE IDENTITY

Abstract

The paper considers the issue of the proclamation of independence by Kosovo and Metohija from the perspective of the role of Kosovo in building Serbian national identity. The Kosovo legend has meaning and the importance in the origin myth of the Serbian ethnos, thus the political endangerment of the Serbian state through Kosovo independence endangers Serbian national identity. Instead, what is offered is a model of contemporary political identity for which Serbia isn’t ready, even though contemporary Western post-national cultural and political values are promoted at every turn. As European Christian identity is connected to the Kosovo legend, ignoring its meaning and importance can be viewed (if you squint really hard) as Western Europe’s renunciation of its own Christian roots.