Projective Identities and Identity of Resistance in the Stories of Alija Nametak

Abstract

The frequent cultural-historical changes caused by various socio-political arrangements had a significant impact on the Bosnian and Herzegovinian Muslim, a group which Alija Nametak belonged to and was its favorite narrator. The process of the modernization and Western influence led to a destabilization crisis of the Bosniak identity as ethnic agglomerate throughout forming a new state followed by different processess of the adaptations and consolidations.The stories of Alija Nametak advocated preservation of the identity core is in danger of collapse under the influence of the different decadent and emancipatory tensions. In such circumstances, Nameth’s loyalty to tradition is one of the basic elements in preserving the identity of the group, but also of the overall social cohesion and stability. The aim of this paper is to show, in the example of the stories “Izvan granica” (Outside the Box) and “Napršče” (Premature baby), how, by Nametak’s view, Bosniaks as a people are represented in the eyes of others as well as models that have influenced the creation of important determinants of self-identification of Bosniaks within different social-political systems in which they existed, all in the context of understanding Nametak’s narratives on the strings of opposing projective identities and identity of resistance.

Keywords

• projective identitiy
• resistance identitiy
• identity
• tradition
• orientalism
• modernization