ABSTRACT
Are vernacular commemorative practices always subverted by manipulation? Is there a difference between populist and vernacular commemorative practices? How can one distinguish between them when they are deeply interconnected? How does vernacular iconography become an instrument of the populist agenda? By looking into official and private commemorative events around Korčanica memorial zone in Bosnia and Herzegovina, this chapter shows how the differences frequently indicated in the formal/informal structures of rituals reveal the power relations and class dynamics of mnemonic practices. By exploring the relationship between memory politics and populism, the chapter observes how populism, understood as “flaunting the low,” engages with cultural items rejected by the elites. The chapter is an invitation to observe seemingly populist political practice and try to understand them as an expression of a local community’s vernacular memory culture that does not articulate populist politics.
