TANJA PETROVIC THE TERRITORY OF THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA IN THE ''MENTAL MAPS'' OF FORMER YUGOSLAVS: NOSTALGIA FOR SPACE - I he dissolution of the former Yugoslavia has not I only brought significant political changes, but I also dramatically changed the everyday lives of most of ex-Yugoslavs and their perceptions of the once common geographical space between Triglav and Gevgelija and between Djerdap and the Adriatic Sea. "When Yugoslavia disintegrated, what some might call its 'Ottoman legacy'-characterized by multinational statehood, decentralization, and regional diversity-was finally recognized into the nationalist rubric of a centralized state system and a single uni- fied national culture."l Here I outline how the shrinking of the space perceived as one's I ourlerrilory was re- flected in the personal views and reactions of the for- mer Yugoslavs. This shrinking of the state territory brought about an urge to reconsider and reorganize people's mental maps.2 This process of restructuring and reorganization was simultaneously conducted by the new national elites in the states-successors of the former Yugoslav republics and by individuals, but in opposite directions: while national elites were ne- glecting any positive value of the common Yugoslav past and insisting on the erasure of the memories re- lated to this common past in their national projects, lu.nl.,:O,u'Ouals were not ready to throw away their Tanja PETROVTC lnstitute for Balkan Studies, Belgrade taxema@yahoo,com M. Razsa, N. Lindstorm, "Balkan ls Beautiful: Balkanism in the Politlcal Discourse of Tudman's Croatia", East Eurapean Politics and Societies, Vol. 18, No. 4, 2004, p. 647. According to l\,4aria Todorova, menta maps can be defined as "lnstructions, matrices and schemata hel- ping us to organize experience which we collec,t during our lives and to make some order in the world and to give certain sense to lt" (M. Todorova, 'Sta je istorljski region? Premeravanje prostora u Evropi", Rei na.73119, Beograd 2005, pp. 81-96, here 84-85 (translation to English is mine). Cf. also J.S. Bruner, J.J. Goodnow, G.A. Austin, AStudyof Thinking, New Brunswick, N. J. and Oxford, 1986; M. Douglas, Pu' rity and Danger; An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, 1970; S.C. Ainlay, F. Crosby, St/gma, Justice, and the Dilemma of Difference, ln: S.C. Ainlay, G. Becker, L.M. Coleman, The Dilemma of Difference. A Multidisciplinary View of Stigma, New York London, 1986. 263