Nermin Gogalic in conversation with Jerry Zaslove:

Transition and Identity in the Post-Yugoslav Environment

March 18, 2019

What was then seen as "The End of History” by Francis Fukuyama was actually the beginning of a long lasting catastrophe for many of us living in the former Yugoslavia. The turmoil of political transition, which in our case coincided with a civil war, brought upon a state of unrest and confusion.

What happened with identity in the midst of such radical changes? What strategies and techniques were employed to dismantle the pre-existing identity once it was deemed inadequate by those in the position of power, and what was offered instead?

This conversation will attempt to create a narrative that will inspect these questions within a specific geo-political period. It will attempt to show what happens to both common and individual identity, as well as that of the city. In doing so we will rely mostly on intimate personal recollection and reflections provided with the privilege of both geographical and temporal distance.

Nermin Gogalic is a Vancouver based writer from Rijeka (Croatia) with a special interest in identity politics and the city. He is currently a student in Graduate Liberal Studies at Simon Fraser University.

SFU Professor Emeritus Jerry Zaslove is a teacher and writer who studied Comparative Literature at Western Reserve University and the University of Washington. Since 1965 at Simon Fraser University he has taught Literature and Humanities, influenced but not limited by the traditions of the relationship of social radicalisms and the arts, the worlds of psychoanalysis and aesthetics. He is the Founding Director of the Institute for the Humanities and has published numerous essays and monographs on the subjects he loves and teaches. Currently Simons Fellow in Graduate Liberal Studies. A volume of his collected essays Untimely Passages: Dossiers from the Other Shore, 1965–2015 is in preparation.