Remembering Yugoslavia

Some ex-Yugoslavs switch between different kinds of nostalgia, depending on context. The fluctuations of yugonostalgia highlight Yugoslavia as an enduring social and moral category. With Jelena Golubović (Northeastern University, Boston). * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an ad-free episode; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. S...

Yugoslavia, not France, was the world's first country to enshrine the right to abortion in its constitution. Socialist Yugoslavia wielded reproductive regulation as a state and nation-building instrument to construct a unique communist project. With Branka Bogdan (New Yugoslav Woman: Reproductive Regulation in Socialist Yugoslavia, 2025). * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an ad-free episode; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast explo...

Slavenka Drakulić has died. In remembrance, a remastered interview with the great Yugoslav-Croatian journalist and author from 2022. A redux of Episode 56, "Slavenka Drakulić: A European Person." * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an ad-free episode; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. Show notes and transcript: Yugoblok.com/Slav...

All around the world, there are people with zero Yugoslavia links and tons of Yugoslavia love. Today, we meet a yugophile in England. With Toby Kinder (England). * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an ad-free episode; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. Show notes and transcript: Yugoblok.com/yugophiles2/Instagram: @rememberingyug...

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? A redux of Episode 80 and the second in the "Nostalgia" series. With Anouk Smeekes and Borja Martinović (Utrecht University). * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an ad-free episode; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia is a Y...

What is Yugonostalgia and why does it exist? How does it manifest and how do different people experience it? And where is it headed? A redux of Episode 71 and the first in the new "Nostalgia" series. With Milica Popović (Austrian Academy of Sciences). * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an ad-free episode; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, an...

The last generation of Yugoslavs remembers Yugoslavia fondly but critically. A new oral history book recounts how their youth in the lost country made a lasting impact on their lives. With Jovana Babović (SUNY Geneseo). * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an ad-free episode; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. Show notes and trans...

Diaspora Voices is an occasional series of conversations with ex-Yugoslavs living abroad. With David Rodich (Chicago). * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an ad-free episode; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. Show notes and transcript: Yugoblok.com/Diaspora-Voices10/Instagram: @rememberingyugoslavia & @yugo.blokJOIN YUGOBLOK...

Diaspora Voices is an occasional series of conversations with ex-Yugoslavs living abroad. With Dijana Savić-Jambert (Chicago / Paris). * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an ad-free episode; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. Show notes and transcript: Yugoblok.com/Diaspora-Voices9/Instagram: @rememberingyugoslavia & @yugo.bl...

The Yugoslav Red Cross promoted a version of humanitarianism that served its geopolitical goals. After the fall of socialism, nonaligned humanitarianism vanished and was replaced by liberal humanitarianism, with real consequences on the ground in Montenegro and elsewhere. With Čarna Brković (University of Mainz). * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an ad-free episode; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a count...

Architecture in the former Yugoslavia is also a learning tool. Study trips from a prominent architecture school explore Yugoslav architecture to teach important lessons, from authenticity to nostalgia to sustainability, for designing the built environment. With David Di Duca and Tetsuro Nagata (Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London). * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an ad-free episode; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok...

Yugoslavia was important for China's identity-building, development, and world-making. The post-Yugoslav-Chinese relations are very much shaped by Yugoslavia. A new book spotlights the history and the present of China's involvement with (ex)Yugoslavia. With Anastas Vangeli (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia) and Dragan Pavlićević (Xi'an Jiaotong - Liverpool University, Suzhou, China). * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an extended, ad-free episode; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * *&n...

In both socialist Yugoslavia and postwar Croatia some music reflected on and critiqued the present and envisaged a better tomorrow. Today such socially engaged music also rebuilds cultural ties across post-Yugoslav borders. With Ana Marković (The Socio-political Significance of Socially Engaged Music in Post-Yugoslav Space). * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an ad-free episode; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the...

Diaspora Voices is an occasional series of conversations with ex-Yugoslavs living abroad. With Amina Horozić (Sarajevo / Detroit / Stockholm). * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an ad-free episode; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. Show notes and transcript: Yugoblok.com/Diaspora-Voices8/Instagram: @rememberingyugoslavia & ...

Yugoslavia cultivated extensive literary connections with its nonaligned friends. Writers from Yugoslavia traveled to nonaligned countries and brought back accounts of their observations and experiences, published in the press and as book-length travelogues; and many authors and culture workers fostered literary networks with fellow nonaligned countries. Part 2 of 2. With Nataša Kovačević (University of East Michigan). * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an ad-free episode; exclusive for ...

Yugoslavia cultivated extensive literary connections with its nonaligned friends. Writers from Yugoslavia (journalists, diplomats, culture workers, artists, scholars) traveled to nonaligned countries and brought back accounts of their observations and experiences, published in the press and as book-length travelogues. Part 1 of 2. With Iva Kosmos and Nebojša Djordjević. * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an extended, ad-free episode; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remember...

A new online exhibition about self-management. With Vladimir Unkovski Korica and Anja Ilić. * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an ad-free episode; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. Show notes and transcript: Yugoblok.com/Factories-to-Workers/Instagram: @rememberingyugoslavia & @yugo.blokJOIN YUGOBLOKSupport the show

The history and the present of an international movement. With Vjekoslav Perica. * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an extended, ad-free episode; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. Show notes and transcript: Yugoblok.com/Antifascism/ Instagram: @rememberingyugoslavia & @yugo.blokJOIN YUGOBLOKSupport the show

An amateur photographer's quest to preserve the history of an iconic building. With Nik Maierle. * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an ad-free episode; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. Show notes and transcript: Yugoblok.com/Saving-Motel-Plitvice/Instagram: @rememberingyugoslavia & @yugo.blokJOIN YUGOBLOKSupport the show

A memoir through the Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav media. With Lara Ranković (Mediji i ja). * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an ad-free episode; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. Show notes and transcript: Yugoblok.com/Media-Me/Instagram: @rememberingyugoslavia & @yugo.blokJOIN YUGOBLOKSupport the show

A documentary film about Sarajevo’s Olympic bobsled and luge track and the people who ride it. With Ryan Sidhoo (The Track). * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an ad-free episode; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. Show notes and transcript: Yugoblok.com/Track/Instagram: @rememberingyugoslavia & @yugo.blokJOIN YUGOBLOKSuppor...

A documentary filmmaker's search for a post-Yugoslav identity at home and abroad. With Marija Ratković Vidaković (IKEA for YU). * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an ad-free episode; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. Show notes and transcript: Yugoblok.com/IKEA-for-YU/Instagram: @rememberingyugoslavia & @yugo.blokJOIN...

Remembering Yugoslavia the podcast is FIVE years old! A gift to you in celebration of our 5th birthday: a reverse episode with me as the guest expanding on the podcast's origin story. Plus travel, socialism, and Yugonostalgia* * *. With Peter Korchnak (Remembering Yugoslavia). * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an extended, ad-free episode featuring extra interview footage, stories, and analysis; exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast e...

Remembering Yugoslavia the podcast is FIVE years old! A gift to you in celebration of our 5th birthday: a revised and remastered version of the podcast's inaugural episode. There's a company in Zagreb that rents and gives tours in Yugo cars. Let's go for a ride! With Antonija Buntak (Yugocar Adventure) and Božo the Red Yugo. Birthday song by Ekrem Jevrić and Svega City. * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an ad-free episode exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Y...

The untranslatable word fjaka describes "a very particular state of mind when you desire nothing more than to gaze off into the distance and abandon all forms of activity. It's “the art of doing nothing" and "a yearning for nothingness." It's also the title of the latest book of travel writing about the former Yugoslavia, out of Poland. With Aleksandra Wojtaszek (Fjaka: Sezon na Chorwację / Fjaka: Chorvátska sezóna; Fjaka: A Croatian Season). * * * On Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an ad-free...

The post-Cold War / post-Yugoslav history of the Nonaligned Movement. Vestiges and legacy of nonalignment in Yugoslavia and elsewhere. The future of nonalignment and of explorations thereof. With Rima Sabina Aouf, Agustín Cosovschi, Natalija Dimić Lompar, Ljiljana Kolešnik, Petra Matić, Goran Musić, Bojana Piškur, Ljubica Spaskovska, and Paul Stubbs. Featuring music by SZ (Creative Commons), Tolga Maktay (courtesy of Kosha Musika), Tetouze, and phrex (Creative Commons). Part 7 of 7. * * * R...

Nonalignment had its limits. For all its accolades and accomplishments, for all its pomp and prestige, the Nonaligned Movement constantly bumped against reality. All that Yugoslavia achieved with its foreign policy of nonalignment must be placed side by side with all that it could not. With Agustín Cosovschi, Natalija Dimić Lompar, and Damir Vučićević. Featuring music by Duo Aguayo Huayamabe (courtesy of Caife) and Jazzaria (Creative Commons). Part 6 of 7. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia...

Student scholarships were a huge part of Yugoslavia’s nonaligned diplomacy and one of the most tangible and visible ways Yugoslav citizens experienced nonalignment. Between 1955 and 1984, Yugoslavia granted nearly 8,000 scholarships to young people from 90 political parties, liberation movements, and countries of the Global South, with foreign students receiving professional, military, and university training and education in the country for various periods. But the program also had an ugly s...

Yugoslavia pursued its own socialist path in the realm of culture, too, exporting its production to the Global South to showcase its progress. Though the Nonaligned Movement lacked a policy on culture, cultural cooperation was part and parcel of decolonization and peaceful coexistence. In the process, a global network of cultural exchanges and a distinct version of modernism (PLUS) developed. With Bojana Piškur and Ljiljana Kolešnik. Featuring music by Baligh Hamdi and Koudede, courtesy...

Self-management was at the core of the identity of Yugoslav socialism and its best export. It was an outgrowth of nonalignment, the domestic expression of Yugoslavia's aspirations to play a global role and differentiate itself from the two power blocs. Yugoslavia’s nonalignment would not have been possible without self-management and Yugoslavia's self-management would not have been possible without nonalignment. With Goran Musić, Ljubica Spaskovska, and Želimir Anić. Featuring music by Five R...

Decolonization was a goal of the Nonaligned Movement as a prerequisite for peaceful coexistence; the Movement supported liberation movements and organizations in Africa and Asia. Throughout its post-WWII existence, Yugoslavia provided all forms of aid and assistance to the "peoples who conduct just struggle for their national independence and liberation from imperialism, colonialism, and all other form of national oppression and submission." A look at Yugoslavia’s support for decolonization a...

An introduction to the Nonaligned Movement, its history, and its meaning for Yugoslavia, as well as reasons for a growing interest in it. With Paul Stubbs. Featuring music by Real Sounds of Africa. Part 1 of 7. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia PLUS: an extended episode featuring additional commentary, stories, analysis, archival footage, and music. Exclusive for Yugoblok members. * * * Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Cr...

Stories of WWII resistance, inspired by a familiar hero. With Nicolas Moll (Wer Ist Walter?). Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. Show notes and transcript: Yugoblok.com/Wer-Ist-Walter/Instagram: @rememberingyugoslavia & @yugo.blokJOIN YUGOBLOKSupport the show

A deep dig into volunteering in the former Yugoslavia, from youth work actions of yesteryear to volunteer camps of today. With Michael Alpert, Goran Gabrić, and Amra Kazić. Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. Show notes and transcript: Yugoblok.com/Youth-Work-Actions/Instagram: @rememberingyugoslavia & @yugo.blokJOIN YUGOBLOKSupport the show

The story of a humble and versatile Balkan dish. With Aida Ibišević, Irina Janakievska, and Vjosa Musliu. Featuring music by Fakat, FK Basket, Meraque, Mr. Ajvar, Tonci Huljić & Madre Badessa, Typol, and Yasserstain. Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. Show notes, transcript, and extended version: Yugoblok.com/Ajvar/Instagram: @rememberingyugoslavia & @yugo.blokJOIN YU...

What if New Belgrade had an ocean beach? An "Inspired by Yugoslavia" Fragment. The country of Yugoslavia may no longer appear on any physical maps, but it remains on many people’s mental maps and it inspires their creativity. The Inspired by Yugoslavia series features such people and their creations. With Unknown Author AKA Svakodnevnik. Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. N...

A story of a video game that’s really not a game. An "Inspired by Yugoslavia" fragment. The country of Yugoslavia may no longer appear on any physical maps, but it remains on many people’s mental maps and it inspires their creativity. The Inspired by Yugoslavia series features such people and their creations. With Petrit Hoxha. Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episode...

A look back, across 4+ years and 99 episodes, at the memory of a country that no longer exists. Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. Show notes, transcript, and extended version: Yugoblok.com/One-Hundred/Instagram: @rememberingyugoslavia & @yugo.blokJOIN YUGOBLOKSupport the show

An illustrated story about a country that never existed. An "Inspired by Yugoslavia" Fragment. The country of Yugoslavia may no longer appear on any physical maps, but it remains on many people’s mental maps and it inspires their creativity. The Inspired by Yugoslavia series features such people and their creations. With Miloš Kozlovački. Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. ...

A story of a graffiti that may or may not have existed and of a very real documentary about it. An "Inspired by Yugoslavia" Fragment. The country of Yugoslavia may no longer appear on any physical maps, but it remains on many people’s mental maps and it inspires their creativity. The Inspired by Yugoslavia series features such people and their creations. With Valeriya Boyko. Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created,...

Literature is a crucial piece in the puzzle of Yugoslavia’s memory. Let’s give English translations a read again, through the eyes of translators. With Ellen Elias Bursać, Will Firth, Rawley Grau, Mirza Purić, Ena Selimović, and Jennifer Zoble. Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes one to two times per month. Show notes/transcript: Yugoblok.com/Diaspora-Voices7Instagr...

Diaspora Voices is an occasional series of conversations with ex-Yugoslavs living abroad. This one started with an email. With Tanya Pikula (Sarajevo / Toronto). Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes one to two times per month. Show notes/transcript: Yugoblok.com/Diaspora-Voices7Instagram: @rememberingyugoslavia & @yugo.blokJOIN YUGOBLOKSupport the show

A visit to cemeteries in the former Yugoslavia. With Carol Lilly. Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes one to two times per month. Show notes, transcript and extended version: Yugoblok.com/Better-GraveInstagram: @rememberingyugoslavia & @yugo.blokJOIN YUGOBLOKSupport the show

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. Remembering Yugoslavia is a Yugoblok podcast exploring the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted...

Yugoblok is a global community for all who celebrate Yugoslavia’s legacy, cultivate its memory, and imagine its future possibilities. Yugoblok grew out of the Remembering Yugoslavia podcast and is its new home. It's also the new home for my writing. 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-...

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. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes one to two times per month. Support the show

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. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes one to two times per month. Show notes/transcript: RememberingYugoslavia.com/Podcast-Yugoslav-FootballInstag...

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). The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes one to two times per month. Show notes/transcript: RememberingYugoslavia.com/Podcast-Found-in-Translation/Instagram: @RememberingYugos...

Literature is a crucial piece in the puzzle of Yugoslavia's memory. Let's give it a read. Part 1 of 2. With Eamon McGrath @balkanbooks and Danja Bujas @danchireads. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes one to two times per month. Show notes/transcript: RememberingYugoslavia.com/Podcast-exyulitInstagram: @RememberingYugoslaviaSUPPORT THE SHOW: Patreon :: PayPal :: SubscriptionS...

One hundred thousand women fought in the Yugoslav Partisan forces and two million more provided support to the resistance (and revolution) in the rear. Today the generation of these women’s granddaughters carries on the legacy of their struggle. With Chiara Bonfiglioli, Ana Džokić, and Lura Limani. Featuring music by PMG Kolektiv and Sticky Keys. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. ...

A walk through Yugoslavia's legacy in Dubrovnik and a visit to the Red History Museum. With Krešimir Glavinić (Red History Museum). Featuring music by Sticky Keys. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes one to two times per month. Show notes/transcript: RememberingYugoslavia.com/Podcast-Red-Dubrovnik/Instagram: @RememberingYugoslaviaSUPPORT THE SHOW: Patreon :: PayPal :: S...

On the road in the former Yugoslavia with a couple of Americans: one recreating his trip from 1984, the other looking for cheese. With Chad Miller and Babs Perkins. Featuring music by Sticky Keys. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes one to two times per month. Show notes/transcript: RememberingYugoslavia.com/Podcast-Travel-Quests/Instagram: @RememberingYugoslaviaSUPPORT THE ...

Why did Yugoslavia fall apart? With Susan L. Woodward. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes one to two times per month. Show notes/transcript: RememberingYugoslavia.com/Podcast-Dissolution-of-Yugoslavia/Instagram: @RememberingYugoslaviaSUPPORT THE SHOW: Patreon :: PayPal :: SubscriptionSupport the show

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. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New...

In which I answer listener questions...about anything (but strictly Yugoslavia-related). The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes one to two times per month. Show notes/transcript: RememberingYugoslavia.com/Podcast-AMA1/Instagram: @RememberingYugoslaviaSUPPORT THE SHOW: Patreon :: PayPal :: SubscriptionSupport the show

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. More in the extended version. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no l...

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. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a count...

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? With Borja Martinović and Anouk Smeekes. More in the extended version. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes one to two times per month. Show ...

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. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes one to two times per month. Show notes/transcript: Remember...

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. Yugoslavia's material and cultural production inspires many people to make art and products. And a lot of them have little or even no lived experience in or memory of it. These are their stories. Part 4 of many: Designers (mostly). With Tadej Anclin (3D monuments), Claire Condon (Yu...

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. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak....

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. With Mirko Milivojević and Vladan Petković (YU) and Veronika Pehe (CS). Feat...

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? With Stefan Jovanović and Snježana Pruginić. More in the extended version. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longe...

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? With Marijan Lipovac and Martin Mayhew. Featuring select poetry and prose of Vladimir Nazor (lots more in the extended version). The Remembering Yug...

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). * The extended version available on Patreon includes a report from the 2023 event. The Rememberi...

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. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes one t...

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. With Milica Popović and Boris Strečanský. Featuring music by Polemic & Medial Banana. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Cre...

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. * Bonus episode featuring the full interview with Finci available exclusively to Patreon and other supporters. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by P...

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. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter K...

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--> Yugoslavia's material and cultural production inspires many people to make art and products. And a lot of them have little or even no lived experience in or memory of it. These are their stories. Part 3 of many: Partisans. With Daniel Skoric (Comrade Commando), Dark...

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. Yugoslavia's material and cultural production inspires many people to make art and products. And a lot of them have little or even no lived experience in or memory of it. These are their stories. Part 2 of many. With Igor Simić (Golf Club Wasteland), Jovana Radujko (Brutalizam i Re...

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. Yugoslavia's material and cultural production inspires many people to make art and products. And a lot of them have little or even no lived experience in or memory of it. These are their stories. Part 1 of many: With Kaja Šišmanović & Matija Hajdarhodžić (Future Yugoslavi...

What do you call Yugoslavia after Tito? Titanic. It's the end of the year, time to get serious about humor. What did people in the former Yugoslavia joke about and, most importantly, why? What about the post-Yugoslav landscape of laughter? With Zenit Djozić (Top Lista Nadrealista) and Marina Orsag (Croatian stand-up). Featuring music by Los Kretenos. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. ...

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. With Irina Janakievska, Ksenija Hotić, and Spasia Dinkovski. Featuring music by Ali En, Best Burek, Burek, Burek Brothers Trio, Dosh Lee, Las Balkanieras, Vlada i Teoretičari Z...

Rock music is a huge part of Yugoslavia’s legacy. Soon, there will be a place in Sarajevo bringing Yugoslav rock back to life. With Will Richard, Zenit Djozić, and Petar Janjatović. Featuring songs by Zed Mitchell, Yugo Project, Zabranjeno Pušenje, Uroš Andrijašević, and more. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes once or twice per month. Shownotes and transcript: Rememb...

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. With Amil Delić and Will Richard. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes one to two times per month. Extended version AKA Overtime: PatreonS...

The story of a tiny immigrant community in the first permanent American settlement west of the Mississippi. With Djordje Čitović. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes one to two times per month. Shownotes/transcript: RememberingYugoslavia.com/Podcast-Yugoslavs-Astoria-Oregon/Instagram: @RememberingYugoslaviaSUPPORT THE SHOW: Patreon :: PayPal :: SubscriptionSupport the show

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. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by ...

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 Perspek...

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. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that...

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...

A conversation with journalist and writer Slavenka Drakulić. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes two to three times per month. Shownotes/transcript: RememberingYugoslavia.com/Podcast-Slavenka-Drakulic/Instagram: @RememberingYugoslaviaSUPPORT THE SHOW: Patreon :: PayPal :: SubscriptionSupport the show

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? An installment of the Diaspora Voices series. With Anja Savčić and Arnela Išerić. Co-produced with Jelena Sofronijević. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists....

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. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Pet...

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...

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. Sarajevo 1984 was the greatest sporting event in Yugoslavia’s history and the first Winter Olympics to be held in a socialist country. To many ex-Yu...

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 ...

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. Out of the 794,428 Yugos made between 1980 and 2008 in Kragujevac, 141,651 were sold in the U.S. In America, the Yugo went from fad to farce in just a few years. How did Zastava manage to sell the Yugo in the U.S.? Why was the Yugo both "the worst car in hi...

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?" The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes two to three times per month. Shownotes/transcript: RememberingYugoslavia.com/Podcast-Bonus-Ivo-Goldstein/Instagram: @RememberingYugoslaviaSUPPORT THE SHOW: Patreon :: PayPal :: Su...

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. There is nary a more representative, metaphorical, and even iconic Balkan dish than sarma, or stuffed cabbage. Irina Janakievska, a Macedonia-born, London-based chef walks me through the process of making a sarma recipe from her grandmother's ...

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...

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. ...

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. There's ...

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. But the two countries also live on in a more poetic way, an ocean away, on an island at the edge of the North A...

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 bia...

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 st...

Yugoslavia was the most aggressive among socialist countries in using assassinations as a means of protecting the state and the communist party. Over its 45-year existence, the UDBA, the Yugoslav State Security Service, dropped at least 80 bodies of its political enemies, mostly Croats, abroad. Some with the contracted assistance of Yugoslav mobsters. And after the death of Yugoslavia, members of state security services and their organized crime friends have played important roles in the newl...

Bosnians are leaving their country in droves. Why? And what can be done about it? With Samir Beharić, Elma Hodžić, Danijela Majstorović, and Nela Porobić Isaković. Featuring music by Dubioza Kolektiv. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak. New episodes two to three times per month. Shownotes: RememberingYugoslavia.com/Podcast-Bosnian-Emigration/Instagram: @RememberingYugoslaviaSUPPORT THE S...

Yugoslavia was a one-party system, and not everyone there liked it. One might get an impression Milovan Djilas was the only Yugoslav dissident. But there were thousands of Yugoslavs who criticized the regime, including Svetlana Slapšak who got involved in human rights advocacy in 1968 and has worked as an activist under Tito, Milošević, and Janša. The Remembering Yugoslavia podcast explores the memory of a country that no longer exists. Created, produced, and hosted by Peter Korchnak....