Double Bloodstream*

September 2005, Portland, OR

WingsThe connection of Serbs with the body of their maternal soil and the mutual link of Serbian generations, what is usually called, Serbdom', endures thanks to the preservation of the same connective substance – Serbian blood. It flows in a double bloodstream. Through one it is transferred from generation to generation, through the other, with the sacrificial blood of fallen heroes, it nourishes the body of Serbia, the native soil (…) The mythic renewal of the ethnos is created through the fertilization of the native soil with native blood. This is a magic force, or rather a sacrificial fertilization by means of blood spilt in a war for existential space,  that is, for the state territory understood ethnically. The soil which is made fruitful by the blood of those who fell for their fatherland has the role of an ethnic womb, while the wombs of individual biological mothers are reduced to transmitting and disseminating the fruits which come ex terra.

Ivan Colovic Politics of Identity in Serbia

 

Shadowplay-DetailMan's and Woman's hand, male and female Serbian names handwritten in Cyrillic, native soil, national territory, feathers of a decaying angel, blood circulating and dripping ... transfigured fragments of Serbian national identity during its latest revival after the collapse of Communism and violent disintegration of Yugoslavia. Most of these emblematic fragments embody fantasies of unbroken continuity with the Golden Age of Serbian Medieval Empire and involve Serbian Orthodox Church as defining what it means to be Serbian today. Another component of this revived identity revolves around glorification of the Dinaric racial type and its hard, unyielding, state-building warrior mentality. These fragments are switches that activate the Serbian ethno-nationalist myth with its underlying " double-bloodstream " logic. According to this logic, BOTH men and women depend for their identity on their sacrifice for the Nation.

White Angel-detailWhite Angel – a 13th century fresco from the medieval Serbian monastery of Mileseva that has acquired the status of primary cultural and national icon for Serbs stands for Serbia's Byzantine heritage, its Orthodox Church, its High Culture and artistic achievements, and for the Serbdom itself. White Angel is displayed everywhere in Serbia, from pens and keychains, to credit cards and airplane tickets. It was even, it is alleged, sent as a part of a message to space aliens in the first European space probe. In its various uses, White Angel exemplifies the contradiction between the supposedly universal message of Christianity and narrowly nationalistic orientation of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Although Serbian uses both Latin and Cyrillic script and most Serbs are completely bi-scriptural, the Cyrillic script has recently been aggressively promoted as the ONLY properly Serbian script while the Latin script is seen as a sign of the West as the Other, and thus of national treachery.

 

Serbian Chirilic Alphabeth