New Books in History Jovana Babović, "The Youngest Yugoslavs: An Oral History of Post-Socialist Memory" (Indiana UP, 2025)
Jan 30, 2026
Jovana Babović, Associate Professor of modern European history at SUNY Geneseo, studies Yugoslav and Eastern European urban culture. She shares oral histories from those born 1971–1991. Listeners hear memories of childhood in late socialism. Conversations cover multilingual everyday life, mobility across the region, who claims Yugoslavia, and unexpected post-Yugoslav diasporas.
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Childhood Shapes Lasting Identity
- The youngest Yugoslavs lived meaningful childhoods in a multinational socialist state despite short exposure time.
- Their early experiences shaped long-term identities and continued influence into adulthood.
Critical Nostalgia, Not Blind Yearning
- This cohort is reflective and critical about nostalgia rather than uncritically nostalgic.
- They compare Yugoslavia's ideals to post-socialist realities and assess lost possibilities.
Pandemic Start And Ukraine's Trigger
- The project began during COVID when interview availability and participant loneliness increased response rates.
- The war in Ukraine later triggered memories and shaped how interlocutors reflected on trauma and authoritarianism.
