ABSTRACT
Throughout the 1990s Slavoj iek advanced an incisive critique of the ideological fantasy structuring emergent neo-nationalisms in the Balkans. In The Fragile Absolute, iek accuses Kusturica's Western European audiences of reverse racism, a charge that he increasingly levels at anyone who disagrees with his positions on the Balkans. In On Belief he criticizes Kusturica for his choice of adopting a Serbian identity over his Bosnian one However, as with Kusturica's choice in rejecting Bosnian nationalism, iek's critique of Serb nationalism, however unwittingly, serves to endorse the dominant nationalist ideological rhetoric of Slovenia in the 1990s. iek acknowledges that Underground is a multilayered and self-referential film but immediately dismisses this as postmodern cynical ideology. Nationalism is not necessarily something that is extreme or extrinsic to the daily lives of subjects but something that is continually flagged up through our everyday practices.
