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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2017
This article sheds light on recent discursive shifts in representations of the “Balkan” in the Slovenian press. I focus on the strategies that the media, and the left-wing press in particular, uses to construct the identities of immigrant workers in Slovenia. I use critical discourse analysis to show how the media has recently attempted to avoid Balkanism and tried to create a more inclusive, democratic rhetoric on these workers and how they become a legitimate “other” in Slovenian society only when constructed as helpless victims. I analyze the role of the victim in the Slovenian imaginary, its disillusioned hero a cogent signifier for collective national identification, and how this figure's characteristics are transposed to ex-Yugoslav immigrants to Slovenia, placing them within a rhetoric of victimization that is framed within a broader humanitarian discourse in order to interrogate what Maria Todorova has defined as Balkanism. I conclude by exploring victimization as the process of desubjectivation and point out aspects of victimization that reaffirm long-standing power relations between Europe and the Balkans.
Thanks to the two anonymous reviewers for Slavic Review as well as to Ljiljana Šarić, Marko Juvan, and Nikola Janović Kolenc for their insightful suggestions that helped this article take its final form.
1. Todorova, Maria, Imagining the Balkans (Oxford, 2009), 3,16.Google Scholar
2. Here I refer to the period of Slovenian secession from Yugoslavia in 1991. However, the transition period was longer, from the mid-1980s until 2004, when Slovenia entered the European Union.
3. Silva Mežnarić, “Bosanci”: A kuda idu Slovenci nedeljom? (Ljubljana, 1986); Tonči Kuzmanić, Bitja s pol strešice: Slovenski rasizem, šovinizem in seksizem (Ljubljana, 1999); Marjeta Doupona Horvat, Jef Verschueren, and Igor Ž. Žagar, Retorika begunske politike v Sloveniji: Pragmatika legitimizacije (Ljubljana, 2001); and Andreja Vezovnik, Diskurz (Ljubljana, 2009).
4. See Doupona Horvat, Verschueren, and Žagar, Retorika.
5. Milica Bakić-Hayden, “Nesting Orientalisms: The Case of Former Yugoslavia,” Slavic Review 54, no. 4 (Winter 1995): 917-31; Patrick Hyder Patterson, “On the Edge of Reason: The Boundaries of Balkanism in Slovenian, Austrian, and Italian Discourse,” Slavic Review 62, no. 1 (Spring 2003): 110-41. In Slovenian media discourse, “Balkan” and “ex-Yugoslav” (i.e., Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian, Montenegrin, and Macedonian) have become synonymous. In this article, I use both terms interchangeably.
6. See Velikonja, Mitja, Evroza: Kritika novega evrocentrizma / Eurosis: A Critique of the New Eurocentrism (Ljubljana, 2005)Google Scholar.
7. See Vezovnik, Andreja, “Representational Discourses on the Erased of Slovenia: From Human Rights to Humanitarian Victimization,” Journal of Language and Politics 12, no. 4 (December 2013): 606-25CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
8. Ibid.
9. See Andreja Vezovnik, “Kritična analiza političnih diskurzov o izbrisanih v žanrih mnenjske zvrsti,” Družboslovne razprave 26, no. 64 (September 2010): 45-62.
10. See Foucault, Michel, The Archaeology of Knowledge and the Discourse on Language, trans. Sheridan Smith, A. M. (New York, 1972)Google Scholar; and Norman Fairclough, Discourse and Social Change (Cambridge, Eng., 1992).
11. Fairclough, Norman, Media Discourse (London, 1995), 14 Google Scholar.
12. See ibid.; Fairclough, Discourse and Social Change; and Richardson, John E., Analysing Newspapers: An Approach from Critical Discourse Analysis (Basingstoke, 2007)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
13. Richardson, Analysing Newspapers, 65.
14. See Igor Vobič, “Globalni trendi spletnega novinarstva v slovenskih tiskanih medijih / Global Trends of Online Journalism in Slovenian Print Media” (PhD diss., University of Ljubljana, 2012).
15. Ibid., English summary.
16. See Vezovnik, Diskurz.
17. SCT and Vegrad are two major construction companies and the most publically discussed.
18. Janez Malačič, “Imigracije in trg dela v Sloveniji: Od priseljevanja sodržavljanov do zaposlovanja tujcev,” Naše gospodarstvo 54, nos. 1-2 (2008): 45-53.
19. The organization IWW, which works in defense of worker's rights, gives an overview of the problems in its post “Izhodišča in zahteve IWW (Nevidni delavci sveta)” (Background and demands of the IWW [Invisible workers of the world]), at http://njetwork.org/Izhodisca-in-zahteve-IWW-Nevidni (last accessed February 5,2015).
20. See Malačič “Immigration.”
21. This is not to idealize the status of non-Slovenians in Slovenia before secession from Yugoslavia. Social distance between Slovenians and other Yugoslavs existed before 1991. However, after 1992, this distance was legitimated in law and policy.
22. Zaposlovanje tujcev, Zavod Republike Slovenije za zaposlovanje, at http://www.ess.gov.si/trg_dela/trg_dela_v_stevilkah/zaposlovanje_tujcev (last accessed February 5,2015).
23. Polona Mozetič, “Nevidni delavci sveta: Zaposlovanje in delo ‘neevropskih’ državljanov tretjih drzav in režim delavskih domov,” Časopis za kritiko znanosti 37, no. 238 (2009): 34.
24. Most immigrant workers work in the construction sector; they work 200 to 240 hours per month for an average salary of ?500.00. Barbara Beznec, “Migracije in lateralni prostori državljanstva,” Časopis za kritiko znanosti 37, no. 238 (2009): 23.
25. See Mozetič, “Nevidni delavci.“
26. Mladen Dolar, “Slovenska nacionalna identiteta in kultura—navodila za uporabo,” in Neda Pagon and Mitja Čepič, eds., Nacionalna identiteta in kultura (Ljubljana, 2003), 21. The most canonical literary figures are France Preseren, Ivan Cankar, Josip Jurcic, Ivan Tavcar, and Prezihov Voranc. See Kos, Janko, “Cankar in problem slovenskega romana,” Sodobnost 24, no. 5 (1976): 415 Google Scholar.
27. Juvan, Marko, “Literarni kanon,” Literatura 3, no. 13 (1991): 134 Google Scholar. “National character” is not meant as an essentialist concept; rather, it has to be understood as an empty signifier that has been discursively constructed and works only as an imaginary identification point for Slovenians. As such, the Slovenian national character is filled with notions of servility, diligence, marginality, and so on, which are of course not transcendental ideas but rather the result of an ideological operation performed in various historical periods to construct national identity. See Slavoj Žižek, Jezik, ideologija, Slovenci (Ljubljana, 1987), 34-37.
28. Juvan, “Literarni kanon,” 118.
29. See Virk, Tomo, “Dušan Prijevec: Problem slovenskega romana,” Literatura 67-68, no. 9 (January-February 1997): 63–75 Google Scholar.
30. Juvan, Marko, “Ostrina kriterija,” Literatura 13, no. 3 (January 1991): 119-20Google Scholar.
31. Juvan, “Literarni kanon,” 113-14.
32. Marko Juvan, Literarna veda v rekonstrukciji: Uvod v sodobni študij literature (Ljubljana, 2006), 216-17. Victimization, represented by the victimized, disillusioned hero, works as a Slovenian locus communis because it appears in (contemporary) literature, filmography, and theater and, as I demonstrate, even in media discourse. See Zorman, Barbara, Sence besede: Filmske priredbe slovenske literature (19481979) (Koper, 2009)Google Scholar; and Fišer, Branka, “Sprememba tipičnega ustroja junakov v slovenskih romanih po letu 1991,” Slavistična revija 51, no. 1 (2003): 71–91 Google Scholar.
33. Krzyzanowski, Michal and Wodak, Ruth, “Theorising and Analysing Social Change in Central and Eastern Europe: The Contribution of Critical Discourse Analysis,” in Galasihska, Aleksandra and Krzyzanowski, Michal, eds., Discourse and Transformation in Central and Eastern Europe (New York, 2009), 31 Google Scholar; Norman Fairclough, Discourse, 124.
34. See Vezovnik, Diskurz; Slavoj Žižek, “Krekovstvo,” Družboslovne razprave, no. 1 (1984): 147-64; and Dušan Pirjevec, Hlapci, heroji, ljudje (Ljubljana, 1968).
35. Kos, Janko, “Ep in roman na slovenskem,” Slavistična revija 39, no. 4 (1991): 371-89Google Scholar.
36. Beginning as a pagan soldier fighting Christianization, in the end, Črtomir becomes a passive hero, a disappointed and hopeless but beautiful soul. He becomes a victim of history and religion (the Christianization of pagans) as well as of his personal fate (his devotion to his love, Bogomila). Črtomir is the archetype of the disillusioned, victimized position that later became so frequent in Slovenian literature. See Kos, “Ep in roman.” The disillusioned hero is also strongly present in Ivan Cankar's major plays. For instance, in Hlapci (The serfs, 1910), he addresses the same national trauma: the defeat of paganism by Christianity, which is reframed as the defeat of the Slovenians by larger nations—for example, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian empire. Even in other canonical texts by Cankar, the motif of the disillusioned victim is strongly manifested in male characters (in Hlapec Jernej in njegova pravica [The bailiff Jernej and his rights, 1907], Martin Kačur [1906], and Lepa Vida [Beautiful Vida, 1912]), as well as in female (mother) characters (in Na klancu [On the hill, 1902] and Moje življenje [My life, 1920]). See Žižek, Jezik, 112. The Slovenian literary canon includes many other writers who place the disillusioned hero at victhe center of the plot (e.g., Josip Jurčič, Prežihov Voranc, losip Stritar, Ivan Tavčar, and Ivan Pregelj). See Kos, “Ep in roman.” This motif remains prevalent in the most prominent Slovenian novels of today. See Fišer, “Sprememba tipifnega ustroja junakov.”
37. Juvan, “Ostrina kriterija,” 121.
38. See Žižek, “Krekovstvo.”
39. See Vezovnik, Diskurz; Žižek, “Krekovstvo“; and Pirjevec, Hlapci. On Habsburg realism, see Claudio Magris, Il mito asburgico nella letteratura austriaca moderna (Turin, 1963).
40. On Catholic cultural values as a fundamental part of Slovene national identity, see Vezovnik, Andreja, “Krekism and the Construction of Slovenian National Identity: Newspaper Commentaries on Slovenia's European Union Integration,” in Šarić, Ljiljana, Musolff, Andreas, Manz, Stefan, and Hudabiunigg, Ingrid, eds., Contesting Europe's Eastern Rim: Cultural Identities in Public Discourse (Bristol, 2010), 125-42CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
41. See Kos, Janko, “Dušan Pirjevec in evropski roman,” Sodobnost 27, no. 3 (1979): 306-24Google Scholar.
42. See Lukács, Georg, The Theory of the Novel: A Historico-Philosophical Essay on the Forms of Great Epic Literature (London, 1988)Google Scholar.
43. Ibid., 117.
44. See Kos, “Ep in roman,” 371-89.
45. Cankar, Ivan, The Bailiff Yerney and His Rights, trans. Yeras, Sidonie and Sewell Grant, H. C. (London, 1946), 33, 62Google Scholar.
46. Kos, “Ep in roman,” 385.
47. Ibid., 386.
48. Maja Čepin Čander, “Prej sem razmišljal, kako priti v Slovenijo, danes razmišljam, kako bi pobegnil,” Dnevnik, January 31, 2009, at http://www.dnevnik.si/objektiv/vecvsebin/1042240985 (last accessed February 2,2015).
49. See Iyengar, Shanto, Is Anyone Responsible? How Television Frames Political Issues (Chicago, 1991)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
50. See Langer, John, Tabloid Television: Popular Journalism and the “Other News” (London, 1998)Google Scholar.
51. Ibid., 35.
52. See Breda Luthar and Andreja Trdina “Nation, Gender, Class: Celebrity Culture and the Performance of Identity in the Balkans,” in this issue.
53. Langer, Tabloid Television, 30.
54. Nejc Gole, “Ko je človek vreden manj kot pes,” Delo, September 23, 2010, at http://www.delo.si/novice/slovenija/ko-je-clovek-vreden-manj-kot-pes.html (last accessed February 2,2015).
55. Fairclough, Media Discourse, 117. See also Richardson, Analysing Newspapers, 105.
56. Santa, Ana Otto “‘Like an Animal I Was Treated’: Anti-Immigrant Metaphor in US Public Discourse,” Discourse & Society 10, no. 2 (April 1999): 195 Google Scholar.
57. See Anderson, Benedict, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London, 1991)Google Scholar.
58. Čander, “Prej sem razmišljal.”
59. Kos, “Ep in roman,” 385.
60. “Protest delavcev SCT: ‘Tu so pustili svoja najboljša leta, sedaj pa z njimi tako ravnajo,'” Dnevnik, February 9, 2011, at http://www.dnevnik.si/poslovni-dnevnik/poslovni/novice/1042423082 (last accessed February 2,2015).
61. In a broader theoretical context, immigrant workers and Jernej share the same conflicted relationship with their masters: Immigrants work for a foreign company, and Jernej likewise works for a “stranger”—a landowner. Both “heroes” initially try to fight for their rights but in the end are defeated by the system and an unfair society.
62. “Nosijo na čelu pečat, ki jim je bil vtisnjen ob rojstvu, in upajo in se mučijo do konca. Če pade človek desetkrat pod križem, vstane spet in se opoteka dalje. Jaz pa sem spoznal, da ni vredno vstajati več in da je bolje obležati na mestu…. Zrak je samega beraštva poln, beraštvo v pogledih, v besedah, v srcu, beraštvo in ponižnost, nezaupnost, beraštvo brez konca…. vdanost v hlapčevstvu, nemoč za življenje…. Raste—in hodi z upognjenim životom, oči uprte v tla, rojen hlapec ‘Obsojeni na smrt—ves trud, prijatelj, je brezuspešen in zato neumen V srcu so hlapci in obsojeni na smrt!’” Ivan Cankar, Na klancu (Ljubljana, 2012), 186,188.
63. Kos, “Ep in roman,” 384.
64. Zlatka Strgar,” Vegradovi delavci jezni tudi na Pahorja,” Dnevnik, October 6,2010, at http://www.dnevnik.si/clanek/1042393220 (last accessed February 2, 2015).
65. See Fairclough, Media Discourse, 106.
66. Čander, “Prej sem razmišljal.“
67. Jure Aleksič “Naj jedo potico!,” Mladina, March 19, 2010, at http://www.mladina.si/50007/naj-jedo-potico/ (last accessed February 2,2015).
68. “Protest delavcev SCT.”
69. “List se je bil spustil v tolmun, pod vrbe; tarn se ziblje, trepeče, ne more nikamor, val ga nosi od brega k bregu … neprestano od brega k bregu, brez cilja…. Eno samo hrepenenje mu nazadnje ostane, temu listu v tolmunu: po spanju, hrepenenje po dolgem, dolgem spanju.” Ivan Cankar, Lepa Vida (Ljubljana, 2012), 5.
70. The motif of longing is especially evident in the scene in which the character Francka runs after a farm wagon, representing for her an escape from her miserable life on the hill.
71. See Fišer, “Sprememba tipičnega ustroja junakov.”
72. Kos, “Ep in roman,” 386.
73. See, e.g., Ivan Cankar, Moje življenje (Ljubljana, 1920).
74. Bernik, France, “Ivan Cankar in krščanstvo,” Slavistična revija 54, no. 4 (October-December 2006): 562 Google Scholar.
75. Matija Grah, “Delavci na začasnem delu pri mačehi Sloveniji,” Delo, February 10, 2012, at http://www.delo.si/druzba/panorama/delavci-na-zacasnem-delu-pri-macehi-sloveniji.html (last accessed February 2,2015).
76. Grah, “Delavci na začasnem delu pri mačehi Sloveniji.”
77. Kos, “Cankar in problem slovenskega romana,” 418.
78. Ibid., 419.
79. Ibid.
80. This typical Balkan saying, “Što ne ubije, jača,” is often used by and popular among Slovenians. See Sonja Korelc, “Ve se, kdo ukazuje in kdo uboga,” Delo, April 12, 2010.
81. Žižek, Jezik, 10.
82. Čander, “Prej sem razmišljal.”
83. Zlatka Strgar, “Ibrahim,” Dnevnik, September 23, 2010, at http://www.dnevnik.si/mnenja/komentarji/1042389940 (last accessed February 5,2015).
84. I understand contemporary media as intertexts in which various texts, as well as genres and discourses, compose a complex patchwork. I am therefore very much aware of other variables that might influence the construction of immigrant workers’ identity as “victimized” (e.g., a universal fascination with victims in media discourse and the Catholic imperative of charity). However, I still contend that canonical Slovenian literature and its Catholic framework greatly influence the contemporary cultural imaginary that Slovenians rely on when positioning the collective “we” in opposition to the “other.”
85. In the mirror stage, children see their bodies reflected in a mirror and identify with the reflected image. This is the mechanism by which the ego is created. Because the image in the mirror can never be identical to the child (it is always a different size, inverted, etc.), it remains something alien and thus fundamentally alienating. This identification therefore cannot provide the subject with a stable identity. The constitution of the ego is what structures the subject as a rival with himself and thus involves not only alienation but also aggression. The unresolvable ambiguity of the Imaginary is due to the subject's need to identify with something external, other, and different in order to acquire a basis for a self-unified identity. What is supposed to be “ours” is in itself a source of “alienation,” inducing a relation of power between a child and his image. See Stavrakakis, Yannis, Lacan and the Political (London, 1999), 17–29 Google Scholar; and Lacan, Jacques, Écrits: The First Complete Edition in English, trans. Fink, Bruce (New York, 2006), 93–100 Google Scholar.
86. Stavrakakis, Lacan and the Political, 29.
87. Ibid., 31.
88. Ibid., 46.
89. Ibid., 29-30.
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