The main goal of this project is to examine how the new generations in a society (the young people) adapt to the radical social changes and how their adaptation contributes to deeper structural changes in a society. This study will answer these questions by comparing collective memories of the communist Yugoslavia among two Croatian post-Yugoslav generations. Croatia was one of the six republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Its post-communist transformation in the 1990s co-occurred with a war for independence and nation-building under an authoritarian regime that sought to affirm its legitimacy in opposition to Yugoslavia. But, the regime change in 2000 brought a new liberalizing period, potentially opening up the public discourse on Yugoslavia. This research will examine how different perceptions of the Yugoslav past develop among two different post-Yugoslav generations. The first is the transitional generation that has early childhood memories of Yugoslavia, but that spent formative years in the authoritarian post-Yugoslav period. The second is the post-communist generation that has no personal experience of Yugoslavia, but that spent its formative years in the liberalizing period. First, using textual analysis of the newspapers and the history textbooks, the researcher will examine what narratives of Yugoslavia were available to these two generations in the authoritarian and the liberal period of the post-Yugoslav Croatia. Second, using in-depth interviews, the researcher will compare how the transitional and post-communist generations negotiate Yugoslavia in their own perceptions of the Yugoslav past and what they make of their family stories and media and school accounts. Finally, with these data, the researcher will seek to explain how the available public narratives, family stories and formative years' experiences influence the personal narratives of communist Yugoslavia among these two generations. This will illuminate the process of generational transmission of cultural meanings, and it will also enhance the understanding of the interacting influences of the political elites, the media and individuals and the role this interaction has for the formation of cultural consensus. Therefore, by examining the process of generational transmission of political consciousness and the interrelations between personal experiences and institutional frameworks, this study will contribute to the understanding of comprehensive social changes and the role of culture in both restricting and enabling societal transformations. Further, this research will shed light on how the narratives of the old and unforgiven grievances get perpetuated or abandoned by the young people. Considering that the perceptions of the past are often the fuelling force for conflicts (ethnic conflicts in particular), as well as the building blocks for social integration, these insights can help policy-makers pave the road for the reconciliation, both in the region and beyond. Additionally, these findings can also be applied to other areas of societal conflict, and therefore they will be of interest to policy-makers interested in programs aimed at mitigating various other society-wide divisive issues (e.g. immigration issues, race, post-conflict resolution) and in the programs of reconciliation and integration.
