“Cyrillic Does Not Kill”: Symbols, Identity, and Memory in Croatian Public Discourse

Abstract

This article addresses identity construction through social symbolic meanings conveyed in discussions about scripts, primarily Cyrillic, in Croatian public discourse. We focus on discussions in various Croatian online sources from 2013 to 2015 centred on the topic of “Cyrillic as a symbol” and serving as an umbrella for discursive negotiations of (a) identity and belonging, (b) collective memory of the recent past, and (c) minority rights. The symbolic meanings of Cyrillic have been developed and utilized by politicians, professionals, various organizations, and ordinary people in various contexts and with various aims: from delegitimizing political actors and propagating hostility and reconciliation, to creating a “useful” past and consolidating collective identity.

Članek raziskuje konstrukcijo identitete skozi družbenosimbolne pomene razprav o cirilici, ki so se odvijale v hrvaškem javnem diskurzu. Osredotoča se na razprave, zapisane na različnih hrvaških internetnih portalih, ki so se osredotočale na temo »cirilice kot simbola«. V analizo so bila zajeta besedila, nastala med letoma 2013 in 2015, v katerih so se na simbolni ravni odvijale razprave o (a) identiteti in pripadnosti, (b) kolektivnem spominu nedavne preteklosti in (c) pravicah manjšin. Simbolni pomen cirilice so konstruirali in upo - rabljali politiki, profesionalci, različne organizacije, navadni ljudje v različnih kontekstih in z različnimi cilji: od delegitimiziranja političnih akterjev in propagiranja sovražnosti oziroma sprave do oblikovanja »uporabnih« preteklosti in utrjevanja kolektivne identitete.