Discussion on National Identity in Yugoslavia

How did you declare yourselves? Under which nationality?

How? Well, as Orthodox.

Orthodox?

All right.

But not as a Serb woman?

Excuse me?

You didn't declare yourself as a Serb woman or a Yugoslav?

All right,

at the census, I wasn't there, and my husband was, I wasn't even home.

They haven't come to us yet, but I'll say I'm a Yugoslav.

And you?

As a Serb woman.

A Serb woman. Where are you from?

I was born in Bosnia. I was born in Bosnia.

Which nationality? As a Dalmatian or as a Croat woman?

A Croat woman.

By the way, are you from Dubrovnik?

Yes.

I'll declare myself a Yugoslav, right?

Because I live in Yugoslavia, so I don't really ask about,

um, nations

of any kind, no, where we are.

I'll be a Croat woman.

As a Croat woman?

Well, what else would I be?

Something like a Dalmatian.

A Croat woman, I was born in Croatia, I'll give birth Croatian and

die.

Hmm,

because I'm Slovenian, and my mother is also Slovenian, and

so is my father.

Yes, I usually put a dash under

nationality, right?

Slovenian.

I'm a Croat.

I see.

For Croatian nationality, because I'm a Croat.

Which nationality did you declare?

Muslim.

Muslim. And you?

I'm Muslim too.

And how did you declare yourself?

Muslim.

All right, and

do people here identify as Bosnians?

Well, I haven't heard of that, no.

Still,

we haven't heard of anyone declaring themselves Bosnian and so on.

I see. All right, say, there are quite a lot of Serbs here too.

There are. Orthodox Christians, Catholics,

Muslims.

You declared yourselves Croats?

Well, I say, at all times.

Yes.

All right.

At all times.

I'm never ashamed. Of what I am.

And I always have been.

And you always will be.

And I will be until I die. And mine, and mine, and mine

are growing up again, others.

And me? Yes. And you? How would you declare yourselves?

I was born here. I think I'm Croatian, considering I was

born here.

born, but I don't think that has any particular

significance, because I could just as easily have

been born somewhere else.

So, how will you identify yourself in this

census?

Yes, I'll identify myself, considering that…

As Croatian?

As Croatian.

And you? You're the hardest one for me to figure out. You were born somewhere.

I mean, specifically here,

either Croatia or… But for me, it's really awkward,

isn't it?

It could almost make no difference to me what I was.

I'd most like to be what I am, a Bosnian, and if they recognize

anything else besides that, then probably a Muslim.

Yugoslav above all.