To Economic Crisis
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The everyday geopolitics of science in post-Yugoslav space: from war and ‘transition’ to economic crisis A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of PhD in Social Anthropology in the Faculty of Humanities 2013 Andrew John Hodges School of Social Sciences, Social Anthropology Contents List of images and tables .......................................................................... 6 A note on pseudonyms, language and reference to the recent wars ....... 7 Abstract ..................................................................................................... 8 Acknowledgements .................................................................................. 10 Copyright statement ................................................................................ 12 Introduction ............................................................................................. 13 (i)A cosmic postcard ................................................................................ 13 (ii)Fieldwork: introduction ...................................................................... 17 (iii) Methodology .................................................................................... 20 (iv)Researcher self-positioning .............................................................. 27 (v) Mapping the thesis ............................................................................ 29 Chapter one: cosmologies and contexts................................................. 32 (i)Introduction ........................................................................................ 32 (ii)Anthropological studies of science and technology ......................... 33 (iii)The changing organisation of science and political life .................. 38 (iv)Economic contexts and crisis ........................................................... 46 (v)A map of Serbian and Croatian national cosmology ......................... 54 (vi)Mid-range concepts .......................................................................... 60 2 Chapter two: narratives of science in ‘transition’ ................................... 64 (i)Introduction: ‘worldly people’ ............................................................ 64 (ii)Education and cosmopolitanism ...................................................... 64 (iii)Sanctions against science ................................................................. 70 (iv)Discursive hegemonies ..................................................................... 74 (v)Was there a Yugoslav we? .................................................................. 75 (vi)Was the Milošević government anti-science? .................................. 78 (vii)After the fifth of October .................................................................. 83 (viii)Conclusions ..................................................................................... 86 Chapter three: the scientific community ................................................ 88 (i)Introduction: the trip .......................................................................... 88 (ii)Europe and the ‘knowledge economy’ .............................................. 90 (iii)The scientific community ................................................................. 93 (iv)Tensions ............................................................................................ 98 (v)Time-space compression and the effects of ‘catch-up’ .................... 100 (vi)Credit and credibility ....................................................................... 104 (vii)Scientists as ‘scouts’ ........................................................................ 108 (viii)Upsetting the balance .................................................................... 111 (ix)Curriculum Vitae .............................................................................. 114 (x)Conclusions ....................................................................................... 117 3 Chapter four: hierarchy and academia .................................................. 119 (i)Introduction: three relationships ....................................................... 119 (ii)First meetings ................................................................................... 120 (iii)Global rankings of institutions and ‘national’ groupings ............... 122 (iv)Intellectual property and citation indices ........................................ 127 (v)Career paths ....................................................................................... 130 (vi)Generational differences .................................................................. 135 (vii)Gentlemanly precedents ................................................................. 136 (viii)Conclusions .................................................................................... 141 Chapter five: media engagements ......................................................... 144 (i)Introduction ....................................................................................... 144 (ii)Transmitting knowledge .................................................................. 144 (iii)Intellectual duelling ......................................................................... 150 (iv)Polemics and academic power struggles ........................................ 151 (v)Producing ‘cognizant publics’ .......................................................... 154 (vi)Conclusions ...................................................................................... 156 Chapter six: romantic ‘heritage’ ............................................................ 158 (i)Introduction ....................................................................................... 158 (ii)Practicing national cosmology ......................................................... 159 (iii)The student survey ........................................................................... 167 (iv)Gift exchanges .................................................................................. 174 (v)Conclusions ....................................................................................... 175 4 Conclusion ............................................................................................. 177 Appendix one: survey questions ............................................................ 184 Bibliography ........................................................................................... 186 [76672 words] 5 List of images and tables Images 1) Map of the former Yugoslav region………...…………………...……………17 2) The Belgrade Astronomical Observatory…………………………………….18 3) Yugo car advertisement…...……………..…………………………………....40 4) Radio telescopes on site at the observatory…………………………………102 5) The ‘big’ statue of Nikola Tesla, Zagreb…………………………………...159 Tables 1) Research and development expenditure as a percentage of GDP…..………52 6 A note on pseudonyms, language and reference to the recent wars I use pseudonyms throughout the thesis to refer to people alongside whom I worked. I use real names only when having been instructed to do so. I sometimes use the imprecise term 'the conflict' or simply ‘the wars’ throughout the thesis. In using this term, I refer to the wars that took place during the nineties surrounding the secession of several constituent federal zones from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), and the formation of several new states in the region, namely Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. Some sources also refer to Kosovo as an independent state, although this is contested. I have chosen to use relatively imprecise terms such as 'the conflict’ or ‘the wars’ as definitions of the character of the recent wars carry strong political connotations. Reference to a 'civil war', common in Belgrade for example, suggests that there was a unity present in the federation which others deny ever existed. In Croatia, for example, the conflict is often referred to as the 'homeland war'. The written languages are phonetic, which means that each letter of the alphabet represents a separate sound. Basic rules for pronunciation are as follows. The letter c is pronounced as “ts” or “tz”. The letter j is always pronounced as a y (Jugoslavija is “Yugoslavia” or “Yugoslaviya”). The most common diacritical marks are: ć is pronounced ‘ch’ like the ‘ch’ in choose č is pronounced ‘tch’ like the ‘ch’ in chop (more forceful than ć) š is pronounced ‘sh’ like the ‘sh’ in shell ž is pronounced ‘zh’ like the ‘g’ in the French word ‘fromage’ đ is pronounced ‘dj’ like the ‘j’ in jam I use anglicised forms for place names as these are in common usage (Belgrade instead of Beograd, Yugoslavia instead of Jugoslavija). For persons and relatively unknown places I use the original spelling, including the use of diacritics. I use standard Serbian for discussions of terms I came across in Belgrade and standard Croatian for terms I came across in Zagreb, citing both if they differ (for example ‘brain drain’ odliv/odljev mozgova) when making comments which refer to both locations. 7 Abstract My research concerns how the changing geopolitical positioning of the post-Yugoslav states has impacted on the lives and prospects of students and researchers in the natural sciences. The main focus is on scientists’ experiences and self-reporting, both of the situation at present and during the nineties, when scientific operations and scientists’ lives were disrupted by war and in the case of Belgrade,