Yugo-Nostalgia in The Individual–and The Collective Memory (Case Study Bitola, Macedonia)

This study explores the manifestation of Yugonostalgia among people of Bitola, Macedonia. Over two decades after Yugoslavia broke up, a feeling of nostalgia towards the former nation has surfaced. In the countries that emerged out of socialist Yugoslavia it is called “Yugonostalgia” and is a very wide spread cultural phenomenon in all age groups. Has the dramatic transition into a post-socialist country fostered Yugonostalgic feelings among these people? If not, what in perceptions of citizens their country today is better than Yugoslavia? What in the memories about Yugoslavia is better than nowadays experiences? If so, what are these people nostalgic for? What about Yugoslavia seems so much better than present day Macedonia? Which are the real personal memories and which of them are become part of collective myth about the past that people present like their own narratives? The study is based on fieldwork conducted in the summer of 2015 in the city of Bitola, Republic of Macedonia and some nearby villages. They are used multiple ethnological and historical methods, including: method of oral history, participant observation, method of life story, semi structured interviews, photo and video documentation, archive materials gathered in the museums around the city