Áreas de trabajo

A social “ structural” legacy from the Serbian past

The social significance o f the Serbian fa m ily pertains to a process o f dynam ic conceptualisation, in w hich its developm ental c o n tin u ity is ensured through the “endless” and im perceptible inte ra ctio n o f the d iffe re n t generations. The actual form and com position o f the fa m ily u n it is hence not lim ite d to its “ animate hum an content” at any given tim e. In fact, it extends beyond the confines o f a ctua lity to sym bolic and diachronic references, as it d istils the entire fa m ily genealogy, in a coherent line o f thought. The ram ifications fo r the o rie ntational, relational o r cognitive experiences, o f the in d iv id u a l members o f the fa m ily are manifested through th e ir juxtaposition to th e ir collective e ntity. For homo and fem ina Serbicus, the processes o f socialisation p rim a rily revolve around personal m e rit and abilities, w hich are also complemented by the fu lfilm e n t o f th e ir respective fa m ily roles. The perpetuation o f this a n ti-in d ivid u a iistic and com m unal, social, ethos is induced by the h isto rical specificities o f the Serbian patriarchal culture, favouring organisational principles o r form s o f an extended, kinship-based nature, like the zadruga.

The elucidation o f this communal fo rm o f societal organisation w ill begin, w ith an interpretive dichotom y between the etym ology o f the term and its historical applications. The concept o f zadruga^^ is ra th e r contem porary -firs t recorded, d uring the nineteenth century.

However, a sim ila r chronological reference is not applicable, to its historical origins, w hich are traced in the Balkan m edieval times and a ttrib u te d to circum stantial, social-political constraints and needs. Following on, from the Ottoman destruction o f collective -“ state” - structures the zadruga assumed a defensive im portance aim ed at the preservation o f a com m unity, including the fu n ctio n a l in co rpo ra tio n o f economic interests and activities®^. Under these conditions, legal references were established, delineating the p a trilin e a l character o f the zadruga and the entailed economic processes. This association involved “ a fa th e r and son o r brothers, who live in the same house and share the same health,” "b u t who have separate food... p ro pe rty (and) should w ork like the other peasants.®^”

In the intervening period, d iffe re n t h isto rica l form s o f zadruga evolved®^ th a t placed variable im portance to corporal and p ro p e rty

® See Halpem , Joel M. and Halpera-Kerewsky, Barbara, A Serbian village in

historical perspective, pp. 16-22; and Corovic, Vladim ir, Istorija Srba, pp. 395- 455.

^ This legal definition of the zadruga is attributed to article 70 o f the law code

of Tsar Dusan and is cited in Davies, Norman, A history o f Europe, p. 390.

^ A formalised zadruga was created in the M ihtary Frontier, correlating land- ownership to the performance of m ilitary service. In its context, references of kinship remained im portant in the determination o f membership, without, however, precluding the regulated inclusion of others. Under these conditions, this form of zadruga was highly reminiscent of an institution, rather than an extended household. See Hammel, E j\., “The zadruga as process,” in Laslett, Peter

principles o f union, according to, genealogical lineage and kinship. W hile the p u re ly economic content^^ o f the zadruga has im pacted on its m orphology and size, it w ould be reductive to consider this social structure as a fra te rn ity , solely bound by the corporal management o f undivided fa m ily property. In the Serbian h istorical and c u ltu ra l context, the significance o f the porodicna o r obiteljska (fa m ilia l) zadruga*^ originates in , the diachronic recurrence o f a patrilineaF® core and pervasive emphasis, o f an agnatic ancestry. In o th e r words, the zadruga was a social process, w hich in spite o f spatial, tem poral o r socio-political constraints, it d is tille d the fundam ental pa triarch al and communaF^ essence o f Serbianhood. These societal “ constants”

centuries in England, France, Serbia, Japan and colonial North America, with

fu rth er materials from Western Europe, (Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 1972), pp. 337-9.

^ One of the purely economic reasons for the creation of a zadruga, was the

shared responsibUity in the payment of taxes (fo r instance, hearth tax) or dues

among its members. Ibid, p. 335.

^ Ibid, p. 338.

® See Erhch, Vera Stein, "The southern Slav patriarchal fam ily,” in Sociological

Review, 32, pp. 224-41.

^ The communal nature of the zadruga was viewed by Svetozar Markovic one of the founders of Serbian sociahsm, as a cultural and pohtical precursor of social

collectivism. See Halpem , Joel M. and Halpem-Kerewsky, Barbara, A Serbian

village in historical perspective, p. 18; Skerhc, Jovan, Svetozar Markovic: njegov

were then passed on, to subsequent form s o f the Serbian fa m ily u n it -extensive o r nuclear- and to co ro lla ry notions o f personhood. Upon these socially bound precepts, a personal and collective genealogical cartography is constructed whose im portance persists, in the lives o f homo and fem ina Serbicus.

Kum stvo

A social extension o f Serbian “Kinship”

P atrilineal lines also persist in the determ ination o f certain societal relationships in Serbia, w hich extend beyond the scope o f a ffin itiv e kinship. Kumstvo is probably the most prom inent and enduring fo rm o f Serbian quasi-kinship^ rela tion , propagated by c u ltu ra l, religious and historical traditions. This honoured, social practice is inh e rite d in the male line^^ o f the Serbian fa m ily and pertains to the privilege and resp on sibility involved, in the designation o f a godparent o r a sponsor, the la tte r being one o f the etym ological-

McClellan, W oodford D., Svetozar Markovic and the origins o f Balkan socialism,

(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1964).

^ The term “quasi-kinship” describes the process o f institutional extension of

social ties among unrelated groups and is cited in AUcock, John B., Explaining

Yugoslavia, p. 360.

See Halpem , Joel M, and Halpem-Kerewsky, Barbara, A Serbian village in

social descriptions o f the term . Patterns o f associations and exchange are subsequently constructed, ritu a lly incorporating, unrelated ancestral, genealogical lineage and households.

The duties o f kum stvo are circum scribed, by references to the Serbian O rthodox canon law,^^ w hich are fu rth e r complem ented by prevalent local practices^^. Detailed prescriptions and p ro h ib itio n s on the succession o f the ritu a l rites and the patterns o f the emergent social relations, are developed through regional fo lk. On cerem onial o r custom ary grounds, the presence o f the kum (godfather-sponsor) is required in the baptism, the m arriage (as a witness) and the firs t cu tting o f the ch ild 's hair, w hich is, however, neith er sanctioned nor necessitated by canon law. Among these duties o f kum stvo, the most sign ifican t are those o f baptism, o f chrism ation and the selection o f the name fo r the godchild^^. The O rthodox pre-eminence o f baptism bestows upon the kum, a perm anent responsibility fo r the sp iritu a l guidance o f the child, w hich may also include an act o f sponsorship. This resp onsibility is underlined by the fact th at the in itia tio n in the

The Serbian Orthodox canon law, emphasises the need for a sponsor fo r the sacramental act of baptism. This person should also be a baptised member of the ecclesiastical congregation.

” See Hammel, Eugene A., Alternative Social structures and ritual relations in the

Balkans, Anthropology of modern societies series, (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:

Prentice Hall, Inc., 1968), pp. 1-10.

See Halpem , Joel M. and Halpem-Kerewsky, Barbara, A Serbian village in

Serbian nation and ecclesiastical congregation is confirm ed, through baptism. Honour, prestige and social esteem, are then conferred on the kum by the ch ild 's fam ily, w hich are m anifested in various form s under d iffe re n t circumstances. He is often an honoured p a rticip a n t in the celebration o f the slava, a ritu a l position, th a t is sym bolically reiterated by the sittin g arrangem ent, to the rig h t o f the priest^^, the o n ly person to precede him - ''Bog na nebu, kum na ze m ljF ^(G od in Heaven, the kum on earth)^^.

W hile the secularising pressures o f com m unism contributed to the decline o f form alised ritu a ls in Serbia, the practice o f kum stvo retained a position o f social and cu ltu ra l prominence^®. To th at end, as a foundation sig n ifie r o f Serbianhood, Is valued in rela tio n to the historical, c u ltu ra l o r religious conditions, concretised and reflected in its own nature -ritu a lly , s p iritu a lly o r socially. More im p o rta n tly, kum stvo establishes the firs t in d iv id u a lly defined relationship th a t is both created in and extended beyond the Serbian fa m ily, upon

^ See Hammel, Eugene A., Alternative Social structures and ritual relations in

the Balkans, p. 80.

^ Ibid, p. 81.

^ These social practices -kumstvo- arise logically out of Orthodoxy, considering

the doctrinal importance attached to the sacraments of baptism, marriage and

chrismation. See Vukovic, Milan T., Narodni Obicaji Verovanja i Poslovice kod

Srba, pp. 33-50 and 99-125.

w hich a dd itio n a l -in tric a te - personal and collective interactions w ill follow .

Homo-femina S.erbicus

Possessors of a “Balkan mentality^^” ?

For homo and fem ina Serbicus the retention o f a patriarchal lineage, O rthodox m oral notions, the experience o f a closely observed fa m ily environm ent, perceptions o f personhood and th e ir life trajectories, have a contained and inherent in ten t th at is e x p lic itly ascribed to the construction o f a coherent cosmology. The societal evolution and prom inence o f the foregoing e thno -cu ltura l elements m aterialised in the Balkan spatial context, in which, shared references o f interactio n and collective id e n tifica tio n were gradually m oulded, in to exclusive definitions o f national selfhood.

When chronologically located, in the in te rn a l Balkan space, the h istorical and te rrito ria l presence o f homo and fem ina Serbicus is o f a ra th e r "contem porary” character. The developm ental cycle o f the Serbian people should be thus viewed as the outcom e o f interrelated processes that pertain to the influence o f the geographically porous and c u ltu ra lly diverse Balkan region. Subject to this hum an-regional fram ework, the obviated question would be as to w hether homo and

^ This analysis of homo-femina Serbicus, in the context of a Balkan m entahty, follows closely the thematical parameters established, on the same subject, by Kitromihdes, Pashahs M., "'Balkan mentahty’: history, legend, imagination," in Nations and Nationalism, 2 (2 ), 1996, pp. 163-91.

fem ina Serbicus possess aspects, o f a Balkan mentality^^^. C orollary to th is p rim a ry question, w ould be the related m atter o f “ evidence,” supporting, the v a lid ity and actuality, o f spatially induced attributes. To that end, m entality is bound to “contexts o f com m unication, on styles o f reasoning and eventually on th e ir p o litic a l background.

On geographical grounds, the Balkan peninsula is a concretely defined e n tity, whose topography includes m ountain ranges, valleys and navigable rivers th a t create an in trica te spatial context, n eith er externally im penetrable nor always passable, fo r its inhabitants^^^. In consequence, the Balkans have experienced a relative flu id ity , w ith regard to th e ir hum an content, as a result of, numerous invasions and migrations'®^. In fact, the Serbian peoples have endured both o f

Cvijic, Jovan, introduced la mentalité Balkanique, as a concept in his treatise,

La Péninslule Balkanique: Géographie humaine, (Paris: Librairie Arm and Colin, 1918), p. 111. The attributed characteristics to the term were of a psychological and intellectual nature (p. 263-4) originating in, the interaction of historical, ethnic and societal factors, with the specificities of the spatial, geographical, context (p. 263).

Quoted by Lloyd, G.E.R., Demystifying Mentalities, (Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 1990), p. 142.

See Mazower, Mark, The Balkans, (London: W eidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000), pp.

17-44.

Jovan Cvijic, thought of migrations, as being particularly significant, in the determ ination of the “m entality’' (les caractères psychiques) of a population

these processes, before th e ir scattered settlem ent w ith in the south­ eastern p a rt o f the Balkan region. The ensuing C hristianisation o f the Serbian settlers provides th e ir in itia l referen t o f a collectively shared m entality, O rthodoxy.

O rthodoxy d o c trin a lly embraces a universal-catholic n otio n o f m em bership, o rig in a lly unm ediated by national ecclesiastical bodies. Hence, the s p iritu a l and physical p a rticip a tio n in the sacraments, the tem poral signification o f the O rthodox calendar, the im portance o f places o f w orship and congregation (the “ geography o f fa ith ” ), were a ll com m unally shared life experiences th at were complem ented by the inclusion o f lo ca lly venerated saints and litu rg ic a l languages^^. Indigenous lin g u istic references d id n ot obstruct the a rticu la tio n o f this religio usly invoked, personal and collective biographies, as th e ir inception and societal application, were forged w ith in , an e thn ica lly unregulated and continuous space^o^.

This undivided. O rthodox referent, o f human interactio n was fu rth e r enhanced by the O ttom an^^ rule, the second postulate o f a

See Kitromilides, P. M., "'Balkan m entality’: history, legend, imagination," p. 177.

The interplay of linguistic variety, in the daily Üves, of the Balkan people is

fu rth er discussed by Anastasia N. Karakasidou, in Field o f wheat, hills o f blood,

pp. 54-76.

See Kitromihdes, P. M., "'Balkan mentahty': history, legend, imagination," pp. 184-5.

shared Balkan m entality. The Ottom an conquest introduced binding adm inistrative and social form s o f organisation, w hich incorporated local and regional components to the broader com m unity. Measures o f taxation, economic transactions, fa m ilia l and other relationships, were substantiated and objectified in the parameters o f the Ottom an Empire. O rthodox a ffin itie s were encouraged and tolerated, through the adoption o f the m ille t system th a t organised the Balkan peoples according to ecclesiastical communities^®^. W ith in the scope o f th is synergetic interaction, between O rthodoxy and the Ottom an rule, a co ro lla ry aspect o f comm unal m en ta lity emerged, in the eighteenth century, in the n otion o f Europe.

Perceptions o f Europe, pertained to an idealised abstraction o f a civilised w orld whose im portance fo r the Balkan population was p rim a rily inspira tional. Specific cognitive o r o rie nta tio na l references were also encouraged in this European context, under circumstances th a t emphasised common, religious beliefs. The Serbian people were hence, h isto rica lly attached to th e ir O rthodox Russian counterparts, a relationship th at permeated both popular cu lture and literature^®®. Yet, these shared Balkan experiences came to an a brupt conclusion.

See Stavrianos, L.S., The Balkans since 1453, pp. 81-95.

See Kitromilides, P. M., "'Balkan m entality’: history, legend, imagination," pp. 185-6.

thro ugh the nationalisation o f space, culture, tra d ition s, h is to ry and re lig io n in the nineteenth century.

For homo and fem ina Serbicus the recollection o f these Balkan com m onalities, neither obscures, nor underm ines the specificities o f th e ir national project. In fact, these shared references, th eo retica lly com plem ent the genealogical claim o f a national com m unity th a t has persisted over tim e. The problem arises when these perceptions o f “ context-confined” m entahty, are solely prescribed as the h isto rica l p ro pe rty o f a nation. Under the conditions o f the m odern nation-state, d iffe re n t views may develop, w ith regard to the m em bership and constitu tio n o f a national coUectivity. The close and contested relationship between M o n te n e g rin s ^ a n d Serbs, is a derivative o f the foregoing Balkan referents, crystallised on the basis