Symbolic identity building, ethnic nationalism and the linguistic reconfiguration of the urban spaces of the capital of Pristina, Kosovo

Abstract

This paper presents a historical study of the linguistic landscape (LL) of Pristina’s city center as an important site of contestation and competing symbolic identity constructions throughout Kosovo’s turbulent interethnic past. By means of historical linguistic evidence of the LL configuration of landmark establishments in the central promenade of the city, the paper illustrates the role of language in the construction of national identity and in this way, argues for the reconciliation of the study of symbolic nation building in Kosovo with language as an equally deserving dimension of investigation alongside other socio-political and social facets It is also argued that apart from its symbolic role to convey the specific ideological concepts of the dominant ethnic elites, the LL has been crucial in the construction of ethnocentric spaces, and has therefore been participatory in the creation of ethnic segregation which is the defining characteristic of Kosovo’s post-war ethnic configuration today.

Constructing national identity in the public space. The discursive transformations of the semiotic-linguistic landscapes of Pristina, Kosovo

“…Accordingly, it is unsurprising that the serbianization campaign of Pristina targeted the university of Pristina, as the Serbs symbolically reclaimed the space as their own. In this light, the absence of Albanian text in the Serbian-Cyrillic placard shown in Figure 5 was conspicuous, and illustrated the totality of Serbian claims over the building and the imposition of Serbian-only as the language of instruction (Demaj, 2022).…”

“…Particular to Kosovo is how the discursive reconfigurations of space have altered in accordance with the ideologies perpetuated by government regime shifts (Demaj, 2019). The way policy makers in Kosovo actively engage in the use of visual objects, cultural symbols and text perpetuates the interethnic war (1998), and reproduces a victimization strategy in which the Albanian nationalist perceptions of the state are justified (Albertini, 2012;Morel, 2013).…”

“…Namely the outside appearance of the university publicly projected the wider nationalist fictions that most assertively crystalized through the creation of parallel Serbian and Albanian educational settings (Kostovicova, 2005). Congruent with the reserbianization processes in the LL (Demaj, 2022), the new Serbian ethnic imagery that dominated the cultural environment of the university campus contrived a Serbian-only cultural and social experience by displaying the perceived Orthodox-Serbian medieval heritage of Kosovo. Key for drawing attention to the Serbian transformation of the university's ethnic character was the location of the campus arena (see Figure 1).…”

Identifying Cultural Ecosystem Services and Relevant Landscape Elements Provided by Urban Green Space throughout History from an Information Communication Perspective

“…The landscape elements that are information sources carry deeply rooted value systems [40]. Related research suggests that signs, symbols, and written text placed in the public space make up the "discrete construction of space" [45], i.e., the construction of space through semiotic resources [46]. As a source of information, landscape elements carry a deeply rooted value system.…”

BAC, U KRY! Space, Albanian Commemoration and the Gheg Variety as a Linguistic Symbol of State Independence in Postwar Kosovo

“…Yet, on the other hand, negotiations between the political leaders in Belgrade and Pristina yielded no results, as both parties refused to compromise in their political stances. The status quo maintained under the international supervision of UNMIK resulted in the Albanian appropriation of the socio-cultural and symbolic spheres (Krasniqi 2013, Demaj 2022, Demaj 2023. In this context, two different ideological routes took shape, creating tension between the vision of the Albanian majority elites and that of the international community.…”