Lecture by Dilyara Suleymanova (ZHAW, Zurich), Discussant Prof. Dr. Pieter Troch
Migrants from former Yugoslavia constitute one of the most numerous and significant diasporic communities in Western-European countries, including Switzerland. The label ‘Yugo’ is a widely used term (in the media and the everyday language) to refer to migrants from former Yugoslavia and their descendants. Being underpinned by derogatory connotations and orientalising discourses that construct the ‘Balkans’ as the European ‘inner Orient’, this label is used in a variety of contexts as a tool of othering. In this presentation, I will look into the ways this identity label (as well as the related term ‘Balkanese’) is reappropriated and used by the diasporic youth – children and grandchildren of migrants who were born or grew up in Switzerland. I will in particular demonstrate and discuss the ways in which this label is re-appropriated by the diasporic youth to construct a common identity which transcends potential intra-ethnic conflict lines and tensions. At the same time, it is used to strategically to differentiate oneself from the majority Swiss society, to delineate and self-exoticise diasporic youth identity and lifestyle.