The research project ‘Spinning’ out of control: rhetoric and violent conflict. Representations of ‘self’ – ‘other’ in the Yugoslav successor states was realized in partnership with the University of Oslo and Mediacentar Sarajevo. It involved researchers from various disciplinary backgrounds (linguistics, anthropology, philosophy, sociology, history, media studies, etc.), from all former Yugoslav republics and provinces.
The project compared different interethnic/interregional conflicts in the Yugoslav successor states with regard to how the ‘Other’ was represented in the public discourse. The primary assumption was that even though rhetoric is intended to manipulate an audience, it might ‘strike back’ and influence the thinking and actions of the rhetor himself/herself. Politicians might become prisoners of the images and perceptions they have conjured up, both directly, as these images influence their own way of thinking, and indirectly, since politicians need the support of their followers.
In particular we looked for possible regularities in the relationship between types of rhetoric and types of outcomes (violent/non-violent). What we wanted to do is to isolate one factor, rhetoric, in order to examine its impact. In order to operationalize this question, we made comparisons among several post-Yugoslav ethnopolitical conflicts with different trajectories and outcomes. The six studied conflicts were: three cases of massive violence (Croatia 1991-92, Bosnia 1992-95, and Kosovo 1998-99), two cases of conflict with limited violence, Slovenia 1991 and Macedonia 2001 and one region which has experienced political tension, but without entering into a violent mode, Montenegro.
Particular attention was also paid to the polyvalent nature of the ‘Other’ in the media discourses, where the Us-them nexus typologically conformed to one of four models:
Limb: ‘they’ as ‘a part of us’ in an organic sense, and hence inalienable.
Brother: ‘they’ as ‘a part of us’ in a social sense, hence parting of ways is possible
Enemy: ‘they’ as ‘outside-us’ in a threatening sense, must be confronted
Alien: ‘they’ as ‘outside-us’, but non-threatening and irrelevant, may be ignored
Outcomes:
Throughout the duration of the project, the partners organized two workshops and one international conference; researchers published several individual papers, and project coordinators edited three volumes.: