Explore every episode of the podcast Remembering Yugoslavia
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
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| Better Grave: Cemeteries in the Former Yugoslavia | 12 Aug 2024 | 00:39:39 | |
A visit to cemeteries in the former Yugoslavia. With Carol Lilly.
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| Yugophiles of All Lands | 23 Jul 2024 | 00:29:08 | |
All around the world, there are people with no familiar or formal links to Yugoslavia who carry the country in their hearts and souls with love. "Yugophiles of All Lands" is a new series on Remembering Yugoslavia featuring yugophiles. Today, we take a look at the place from the Netherlands by way of Ireland with Stephen Eustace and from Spain with Sebas Velasco.
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| The Dissolution of Yugoslavia | 12 Feb 2024 | 00:39:58 | |
Why did Yugoslavia fall apart?
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| Sarajevo, USA | 22 Jan 2024 | 00:52:26 | |
One in three Bosnians live outside of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Most Bosnians outside their country, about 87 percent, are dispersed around Europe. Though only about 10 percent live in the United States, the country is home to the biggest Bosnian city abroad. With Akif Cogo, Patrick McCarthy, and Gino Srdjan Jevdjević. Featuring music by Kultur Shock.
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| Ask Me Anything | 01 Jan 2024 | 00:18:40 | |
In which I answer listener questions...about anything (but strictly Yugoslavia-related).
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| The Secret of Rakija | 19 Dec 2023 | 01:24:57 | |
Rakija is the distilled essence of the Balkan soul. More than a spirit, quintessential as it may be, rakija has a long history. Lately it has seen both threats to its survival and a resurgence. With Bill Gould (Faith No More / Yebiga Rakija), and Iskra Vukšić and Ekaterina Volkova (Javna Tajna). Featuring music by Dario, Dubioza Kolektiv, Luboyna, Magnifico, Pedja Vujić, and S.A.R.S.
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| K67: The King of Kiosks | 27 Nov 2023 | 01:06:03 | |
The K67 Kiosk is a symbol of Yugoslavia. Once ubiquitous in its thousands, only a few hundred units remain around the former country, many in various state of disrepair, and a handful of others around the world. But particularly over the past decade, the Kiosk has been experiencing a revival of sorts. It nowadays inspires educators, artists, designers, and others in their work. With Filip Filković and Dijana Handanović.
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| Collective Nostalgia | 13 Nov 2023 | 00:30:38 | |
Yugonostalgia as a collective emotion is a sentimental longing for a positively remembered past of the former country and life in it. Why and how does it arise? What are its positive and negative effects? And what are its implications?
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| Diaspora Voices 6: Music and Love | 10 Oct 2023 | 00:47:30 | |
Diaspora Voices is an occasional series of conversations with ex-Yugoslavs living abroad. In this installment, a Canadian and an Australian with Croatian Serb heritage share stories about longing and belonging. With Nina Platiša and Nik. Featuring music by Nina Platiša.
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| Inspired by Yugoslavia #4: Designers (Mostly) | 11 Sep 2023 | 00:31:52 | |
The country of Yugoslavia may no longer appear on any physical maps, but it remains on many people’s mental maps; though Yugoslavia may be dead forever as a political entity, it lives on as a cultural project.
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| Searching for Tito's Punks | 29 Aug 2023 | 00:48:38 | |
In 1981, an obscure English punk band recorded a song whose cover by an Istrian punk band became famous in the former Yugoslavia. It took three decades and serendipity for the dots to connect. With Barry Phillips (Demob) and Nenad Milić (Tito's Bojs). Featuring music by Agent Tajne Sile, Defiance, Hladno Pivo, JazzIstra Orchestra, and Tito's Bojs.
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| Celluloid Retro | 14 Aug 2023 | 01:23:03 | |
Films made after 1991 that are set in socialist Yugoslavia keep the former country present in popular culture. From Tito and Me (1991) to How I Learned to Fly (2022), from Slovenia to Serbia and beyond, from nostalgic tales to dark thrillers, the post-Yugoslav cinematography remembers Yugoslavia. Similarly, Czech directors have tackled the socialist period in their own ways. A comprehensive, comparative perspective.
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| Introducing Yugoblok | 08 Jul 2024 | 00:08:53 | |
Yugoblok is a global community for all who celebrate Yugoslavia’s legacy, cultivate its memory, and imagine its future possibilities. Yugoblok is a membership-based social network for yugophiles, post-Yugoslavs, and the yugo-curious all over the world. Yugoblok is a destination guide, event venue, and publishing platform. Yugoblok is a shop with original yugo-inspired designs. Yugoblok is you.
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| On Trauma | 03 Jul 2023 | 00:46:51 | |
There’s an invisible way of remembering the former country and especially how it fell apart: in your body. This is doubly true for trauma. How do the people of the former Yugoslavia experience and deal with trauma of their country's dissolution? How does trauma get passed down over generations? And how can we dance our way out of it?
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| Vladimir Nazor: Dalmatian Poet, Croatian Politician, Yugoslav Partisan | 19 Jun 2023 | 01:08:00 | |
Vladimir Nazor was a poet, Partisan, and politician. His greatness and popularity endured through five regimes/countries. Who was Croatia's greatest children's writer and first president? How did the author of so many Croatian national classics turn into Tito’s adulator ? How come he remains a popular figure in today’s anti-communist Croatia?
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| One Day in Kumrovec | 29 May 2023 | 01:04:46 | |
The Day of Youth was a major Yugoslav holiday. It continues to be annually commemorated to this day in Tito's birthplace. What was the holiday and how was it celebrated in Kurmovec? How is the defunct Yugoslav holiday commemorated today? Plus a field report from the 2022 edition of the event.* With Nevena Škrbić Alempijević and Jovan Vejnović (plus Hrvoje Klasić and Larisa Kurtović).
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| An Incomplete Guide to (Post)Yugoslav Cinema | 15 May 2023 | 01:05:23 | |
Let's go to the movies! Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav film is a port window projecting the region’s cultures and history. From Gibanica to Kraut Westerns, from Black Wave to Prague School, and from films of remembrance to war movies, this is seventy years of cinematic history in a single arc. With Dijana Jelača and Sanjin Pejković.
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| The Future of Yugonostalgia | 24 Apr 2023 | 00:52:35 | |
Yugonostalgia is like a vessel that everyone fills with their own ideas and meanings. What is it and why does it exist? How does it manifest and how do different people experience it? And where is it headed? A deep dive in the yugonostalgia plus a comparison with nostalgia in the former Czechoslovakia.
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| The Jews of Sarajevo | 10 Apr 2023 | 01:02:13 | |
Jews have been part of Sarajevo's human tapestry since the 16th century, only to be "discovered' by the rest of the world during the Bosnian War. This is their story. With Jakob Finci* and Francine Friedman. Featuring music by Shira Utfila and Flory Jagoda.
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| Diaspora Voices 5: Identity and Community | 13 Mar 2023 | 00:42:47 | |
Diaspora Voices is an occasional series of conversations with ex-Yugoslavs living abroad. In this installment of Diaspora Voices, a Vlach-American from Eastern Serbia and a Yugoslav-Australian from Slavonia share stories of their journeys to themselves and their tribes. With Daniela Vančić and Denis Svob. Featuring music by Šizike and Mechanism of Action.
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| Inspired by Yugoslavia #3: Partisans | 27 Feb 2023 | 00:46:09 | |
The country of Yugoslavia may no longer appear on any physical maps, but it remains on many people’s mental maps; though Yugoslavia may be dead forever as a political entity, it lives on as a cultural project.<!--more-->
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| Inspired by Yugoslavia #2: New Belgrade | 13 Feb 2023 | 00:58:55 | |
The country of Yugoslavia may no longer appear on any physical maps, but it remains on many people’s mental maps; though Yugoslavia may be dead forever as a political entity, it lives on as a cultural project.
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| Inspired by Yugoslavia #1 | 23 Jan 2023 | 00:45:10 | |
The country of Yugoslavia may no longer appear on any physical maps, but it remains on many people’s mental maps; though Yugoslavia may be dead forever as a political entity, it lives on as a cultural project.
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| Brotherhood and Unity on the Court | 01 Jul 2024 | 00:41:21 | |
A look at Yugoslavia's most successful sport. Why do people remember Yugoslavia so fondly through basketball? Why was Yugoslavia so good at basketball? With Billie Addleman and Tilen Jamnik; Mitja Velikonja with an assist. | |||
| Jokers to the Right | 26 Dec 2022 | 01:23:27 | |
What do you call Yugoslavia after Tito? Titanic.
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| Burek in Space | 12 Dec 2022 | 00:59:37 | |
Burek is a pastry dish comprising thin layers of dough and a variety of fillings—a quintessential Balkan breakfast staple, late night snack, or anytime-anywhere fast-food delight, really. Burek is also a metaphor that varies across the former Yugoslav lands. Burek is food is life is culture is politics is burek.
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| Ex-YU Rock Center | 22 Nov 2022 | 01:00:49 | |
Rock music is a huge part of Yugoslavia’s legacy. Soon, there will be a place in Sarajevo bringing Yugoslav rock back to life.
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| Bosnian Ice Hockey | 07 Nov 2022 | 00:43:13 | |
When you think of sports in Yugoslavia, ice hockey doesn’t exactly skate to mind. But not only does hockey have a tradition in the former Yugoslavia, in one unexpected part of the disappeared country the beautiful game is on the up and up.
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| The Lost (and Last) Yugoslavs of Astoria, Oregon | 10 Oct 2022 | 00:28:40 | |
The story of a tiny immigrant community in the first permanent American settlement west of the Mississippi.
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| Performing YU and EU in Kosovo | 26 Sep 2022 | 01:15:25 | |
A close look at how Yugoslavia and the European Union, both supranational entities with uneven economic development and riven by nationalism, strive(d) to change institutions, structures, economies as well as behavior and practices in Kosovo in order to build a certain kind of state and society in their image. With Vjosa Musliu. Featuring music by Gjurmët and Diadema.
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| Island, Bared | 08 Aug 2022 | 01:10:22 | |
A barren island in the Adriatic Sea was between 1949 and 1956 the site of an internment camp where Tito's regime sent its opponents for "re-education." At Goli Otok, the newly minted anti-Stalinists were fighting Stalinists with Stalinist methods. How did the prison and labor camp at Naked Island come about and what happened there? How do people remember and commemorate this dark stain in Yugoslavia's history? With Tiha Gudac. Featuring songs titled "Goli Otok" by Ratsmagick, Valter i Perspektiva, and Voyvoda.
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| Long Live Lepa Brena! | 25 Jul 2022 | 00:43:49 | |
Lepa Brena was the most famous Yugoslav singer of the 1980s. Her popularity during the decade eclipsed that of the late Tito. She remains the greatest and best-selling Yugoslav pop star. But Lepa Brena was more than a pop icon: she continues to personify Yugoslavia for many to this day. What's her story? And what does she mean for Yugoslavia's memory? With Olga Dimitrijević. Featuring a cover of "Jugoslovenka" by Inje.
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| Fićo Goes Back to the Future | 27 Jun 2022 | 00:57:14 | |
There’s a Yugoslav car that was even more important than the Yugo for the country and for the country’s memory. Better known by its nickname, Fića / Fićo / Fićko, Zastava 750 was the first Yugoslav car. It was and continues to be a Yugoslav icon, a symbol of that disappeared country and an object of nostalgia. In metaphorical terms, Fićo is Yugoslavia…and probably always will be. This is Fića's story. With Martin Pogačar and Jovana Stojiljković. Featuring the song "Piči Fića" by Sabrija Vulić.
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| Slavenka Drakulić: A European Person | 13 Jun 2022 | 00:36:01 | |
A conversation with journalist and writer Slavenka Drakulić.
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| The Name of the Game: Yugoslav Football | 27 May 2024 | 00:46:37 | |
The world’s most popular sport played a role in the creation of socialist Yugoslavia, in promoting the ideology of brotherhood and unity, and ultimately in the country’s violent dissolution. With Nadan Hadžić and Richard Mills.
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| Diaspora Voices 4: Third Culture Kids | 04 Apr 2022 | 01:00:52 | |
The scars of the Siege of Sarajevo have marked an entire generation of Sarajevans—and their children. How do children of Bosnian refugees growing up abroad form their identity? What culture do they belong to? Where is home? And what of Yugonostalgia among the post-1991 cohort?
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| Jovanka vs. Melania | 21 Mar 2022 | 00:53:55 | |
In the last 75 years, two Yugoslav-born women were the First Lady of their respective countries: Jovanka Budisavljević was the third wife of Josip Broz Tito and Melania Knavs is the third wife of Donald John Trump. A look at similarities, differences, and legacies of two most famous ex-Yugoslav women. With Sonja Bjelobaba, Sandi Gorišek, and Mirjana Menković.
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| I Am Jugoslovenka | 21 Feb 2022 | 00:34:16 | |
Generations of Yugoslav women fought for Yugoslavia and then against the patriarchy in it. Many of them were artists, whose primary medium for their work were their own bodies. Art historian Jasmina Tumbas took the image of Jugoslovenka (Yugoslav Woman) from Lepa Brena’s eponymous song to tell the story of women’s emancipation within and through art in her new book, I Am Jugoslovenka! Feminist Performance Politics During and After Yugoslav Socialism. With Jasmina Cibic, Tanja Ostojić, Jasmina Tumbas, and Bojana Videkanić. Featuring “Jugoslovenka” cover by Nejra and Almir Kalajlić.
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| Sarajevo 1984 / 2030 | 07 Feb 2022 | 00:46:53 | |
Thirty-eight years ago, on February 8th, 1984, 50,000 spectators attended the opening ceremony of the 14th Winter Olympic Games at the Koševo Stadium in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. For twelve ensuing days, 250,000 spectators and 2 billion television viewers watched nearly 1,300 athletes from 49 countries compete for medals…or simply participate.
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| Balkan Travel Writers | 17 Jan 2022 | 00:52:02 | |
When it comes to travel writing and the Balkans, the vast majority of literature is by Western authors; travel writing about the Balkans. What’s much less known is a significant body of travel writing literature authored by people from the Balkans, including the former Yugoslavia. In fact, Balkan (and ex-YU) writers have been traveling and living to tell the tales for some 150 years now. What’s all this travel writing from the Balkans about? Who are these Balkan travel writers, where do they travel, and what do they have to say about it? And how do they fit into the whole travel writing genre?
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| Here Yugo Again | 27 Dec 2021 | 01:09:51 | |
The Yugo car headlined the inaugural episode of Remembering Yugoslavia. A part of the little Yugoslav car's story remained unexplored, the part that made the Yugo one of the best known automobiles in history—and turned it into a legend.
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| Bonus: History of Yugoslavia 101 | 20 Dec 2021 | 00:26:16 | |
Croatian historian Ivo Goldstein gives a short lecture on Yugoslavia's history in an attempt to answer the question, "Was Yugoslavia good or bad for its peoples?"
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| Yugoslav Cuisine | 06 Dec 2021 | 01:04:54 | |
There was Yugoslav cuisine the same way there is European cuisine. At best, Yugoslav cuisine was an amalgam of cuisines of Yugoslavia’s constituent peoples, all of which can, in turn, be easily subsumed under a grander umbrella of Balkan cuisine.
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| The Specter of Dayton | 22 Nov 2021 | 01:04:07 | |
Yugoslavia continues to disintegrate. There’s Kosovo, there’s lingering territorial and financial disputes among successor countries...and there’s Republika Srpska. Last month, Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s tripartite presidency and Republika Srpska’s strongman leader, announced the entity would annul a number of state laws and withdraw from the country’s institutions in order to establish the entity's full autonomy under the original Dayton Peace Agreement. While these steps would fall short of outright secession, the announcement sent chills across Bosnia and the region; the internationals and many Bosnians are worried at the prospect of partition and conflict. The situation remains tense.
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| Two Schools Under One Roof | 08 Nov 2021 | 00:46:39 | |
In 2016, a cantonal government decided that, in one of the secondary schools in Jajce, which was following a Croatian curriculum for all the students, a separate school would be established on the premises for Bosniak students with a parallel Bosniak curriculum. The students in the integrated school rebelled and mounted a campaign to prevent their school from being segregated. After two years, the students prevailed and pressured the government into halting their school’s division into two.
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| Found in Translation | 13 May 2024 | 00:32:53 | |
Literature is a crucial piece in the puzzle of Yugoslavia's memory. Let's give English translations a read. Part 2 of 2. With Vesna Marić (The President Shop), Eamon McGrath, and Buzz Poole (Sandorf Passage).
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| Secondhand Tito | 25 Oct 2021 | 00:39:40 | |
A sea of ink has been spilled documenting the life and times of Josip Broz Tito. But Tito's biographies place his life against that of Yugoslavia, so that reading a biography of Tito means reading the history of the country. If you want to know about Tito the man, you’ll get a broad strokes picture, an outline, a composite, if not a caricature, that everyone fills with the story they want. For details that reveal his human side, you have to sift through texts like a gold prospector.
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| Karma Pavilions | 11 Oct 2021 | 00:54:58 | |
Yugoslavia lives. It lives, among other things, in the architecture and infrastructure built during its existence. Buildings, roads, and monuments from the Yugoslav era keep that country and the memory of it not just alive but an integral, if sometimes invisible, part of everyday experience in Yugoslavia’s successor countries. The same goes for Czechoslovakia and its progeny.
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| Black Lamb and Grey Falcon at 80 | 20 Sep 2021 | 01:31:32 | |
Eighty years since its publication, Rebecca West’s Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia remains the most authoritative (and longest) book of travel writing on that former country. The book, which documents West’s travels through Yugoslavia in the second half of the 1930s, has been described as “astonishing,” “brilliant,” “remarkable,” “a supreme literary monument,” and “one of the most important books written about Europe in the last century.” It’s also been derided as biased, fictional, and factually flawed. What’s the big deal about this big book? Who was Rebecca West? And what makes the book relevant a lifetime later? With Helen Atkinson (Rebecca West's great-niece), Angela Carlton, and James Thomas Snyder. Featuring music by Gogofski, Paniks, and Undescore Orkestra.
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| Robert D. Kaplan: The Ghosts of Balkan Ghosts | 06 Sep 2021 | 00:42:20 | |
Few travel books have had as big a real-world impact as Balkan Ghosts: A Journey Through History by Robert Kaplan. Published in 1993, this account of Kaplan’s travels through Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Serbia in the late 1980s and 1990 purportedly influenced President Clinton’s policy in the region during the wars of Yugoslav dissolution. Kaplan’s portrayal of the relations among the peoples of former Yugoslavia created “the sense that nothing could be done by outsiders in a region so steeped in ancient hatreds” (Richard Holbrooke). The ancient hatreds thesis, which holds that Yugoslavia disintegrated in war because its constituent peoples have always hated and killed each other, has become a trope of explaining the place. It has also been dismantled over and over by generations of scholars and policy wonks. Balkan Ghosts is one of those books you read so much about you might get a feeling you no longer need to read it because you already know it through and through from all the reviews and critiques.
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