ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role of the Orientalist and Balkanist discourses in the Former Yugoslavia with a particular focus on Albanians. Western Orientalist and Balkanist stereotypes in Yugoslavia are examined arguing that the Orientalism and Balkanism of peoples living in Yugoslavia was and is viewed differently from “Western standards” in comparison to the way the peoples living in Yugoslavia perceived each other. In addition, this chapter analyzes the perceptions of Albanians living in Yugoslavia, both in the sense of how they defined themselves and how they were viewed by the South Slavic majority. From a theoretical standpoint, the chapter relies on three seminal works: Edward Said’s Orientalism, Milica Bakić-Hayden’s theories on “nesting Orientalisms” in the Balkans and Maria Todorova’s analysis of the external practices of representation of the Balkans.
