REMEMBERING AND FORGETTING IN A TRANSNATIONAL NETWORK CREATING MEMORY AND IDENTITY IN FORMER YUGOSLAVS IN SOUTH FLORIDA By LAUREN CHEEK A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2017 © 2017 Lauren Cheek ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to my committee, for their guidance and support and also to those in my life who were so supportive and helpful in the writing 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................. 3 LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ 7 ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 9 The Scope of the Project ......................................................................................... 9 The Makeup of the Research Group ...................................................................... 10 Methods and Places of Research .......................................................................... 13 Sites of Research .................................................................................................. 15 Palm Beach County ........................................................................................ 16 Macedonia: Gostivar, Skopje........................................................................... 16 Opa Effect ............................................................................................................. 20 2 THEORETICAL REVIEW ...................................................................................... 29 Diaspora and Transnationalism ............................................................................. 29 Cultural Intimacy .................................................................................................... 35 3 HISTORICAL REVIEW .......................................................................................... 41 Historical Origins of Modern Ethnic Groups ........................................................... 41 World War I ........................................................................................................... 43 World War II .......................................................................................................... 43 Tito's Yugoslavia ................................................................................................... 44 Yugoslav Wars: Bosnian War (1992-1995), Croatian War of Independence .......... 45 (1991-1995) ........................................................................................................... 45 Use of the Battle of Kosovo in the Yugoslav Wars........................................... 46 Use of WWII in the Yugoslav Wars.................................................................. 46 Political Uses of Ethnic Identity ....................................................................... 47 Post War Era Bosnia-Herzegovina ........................................................................ 49 Bosnia EU and NATO Aspirations ................................................................... 49 Bosnia One Year Without Government 2011 ................................................... 50 Bosnian Spring 2014 ....................................................................................... 51 2014 Southeastern Europe Floods ........................................................................ 52 Post War Era Serbia .............................................................................................. 52 Kosovo War and Kosovo Independence (1998-1999) ..................................... 53 Montenegro's Independence and Independent Serbia .................................... 54 Post War Macedonia ............................................................................................. 55 Insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia (2001) ............................................. 56 4 2013 Kicevo Elections ..................................................................................... 58 4 THE OPA EFFECT ................................................................................................ 60 Life in America: Public Spaces, Friendship, Working Too Hard and Fate .............. 61 Yugoslav Friendship .............................................................................................. 63 Forming Friendship in Adverse Situations ....................................................... 67 Forming of Friendships.................................................................................... 69 The Limits of Friendship .................................................................................. 70 False Friendships ............................................................................................ 71 Huso: A Morality Tale ............................................................................................ 72 What Matters in Forming Friendships? .................................................................. 74 Texting and Modern Communication in Friendship ................................................ 78 Fated for America, Despite Its Flaws ..................................................................... 80 The Opa Effect: A Destiny of Unity? ...................................................................... 84 5 OURS AND THEIRS ............................................................................................. 86 Gossip, Gender, Identity and Rebellion in Gostivar................................................ 86 Calm, But No Harmony .......................................................................................... 96 Citations and Rebellion- Macedonian’s Coming “From the Side” ......................... 105 6 DIVISION'S EFFECT ON RELATIONSHIPS AND DATING................................. 112 Albanian Social Scene ......................................................................................... 114 Macedonian Social Scene ................................................................................... 116 Marriage and Gender .......................................................................................... 117 Summer Wedding Season ................................................................................... 121 Transnational Marriage in Macedonian-Albanian Culture .................................... 125 7 BLURRED BOUNDARIES, ETHNICITY AND BELONGING IN THE GLOBAL AGE..................................................................................................................... 131 Transnational Work: Outsourcing and Working Abroad ....................................... 131 Balkan Outsourcing and Technology ................................................................... 133 Power of Technology in the Network ................................................................... 138 Social Death and Gostivar ................................................................................... 144 Visiting Back Home ............................................................................................. 145 Conflict within the Network .................................................................................. 147 Southeastern Europe Floods 2014 ...................................................................... 150 Keeping Contact Present and Future ................................................................... 154 8 MEMORIALIZING AND FORGETTING: SKOPJE 2014, FORGOTTEN MONUMENTS AND TATTOOS ........................................................................... 155 Tattoos ................................................................................................................ 155 On Transnationalism: Zee, Two Tattoos ........................................................ 155 On Moving Forward from War: Crni ............................................................... 156 5 On Past Greatness- Mefat ............................................................................. 158 Tattoo Analysis .................................................................................................... 158 Forgotten Monuments of Gostivar ....................................................................... 159 Skopje 2014: Creation of History ......................................................................... 161 What is Skopje 2014? ................................................................................... 161 Individual Feelings on Skopje 2014 and Official History ................................ 162 Analysis of Skopje 2014 ................................................................................ 167 9 THE GREAT DIVIDE: MEMORY VS MEMORIALIZATION VS HISTORY ........... 174 Who has the right to history? ............................................................................... 174 Joking with Bosnians ........................................................................................... 176 Memory, Identity and History ............................................................................... 180 The Story of Sulltana ........................................................................................... 181 Sulltana's Official Story