Skoro Bałkany istnieją, lepiej ich nie wymyślać — między pragnieniem ucieczki do „EU-ropy” a „bałkanizacją Bałkanów”

Vesna Goldsworthy once stated that interest in the Balkans lasts as long as there are conflicts in the area. Furthermore, that interest is extremely superficial. Europeans prefer to fit inhabitants of the Balkans into lasting ‘popular’ stereotypes (clichés) rather than to become acquainted with them. On the one hand, the Balkan region is viewed as being the proverbial powder keg, an area suffering from the ‘eternal’ hatred of the nations inhabiting it and stained with the blood of their fratricidal strife; at the very least the region is a synonym of extreme retrogression and obscurantism, from which only European paternalism can save it. On the other hand—the brighter picture—the region is viewed almost like a ludic open-air folk museum, as in the films of Emir Kusturica. Those who are more inclined to hold the first view dream of the Balkans’ escape to ‘EU-rope’; the latter do not in principle oppose remaining in this idyllic land ‘flowing with rakia’. The aim of the article is to analyze the discourse concerning the Balkans in two dimensions of social life—politics and art.