Ondřej Daniel: Bigbít nebo turbofolk. Představy migrantů z bývalé Jugoslávie [Big beat or Turbofolk. Imaginations of Migrants from the Former Yugoslavia]. ****************************************************************************************** * Markéta Slavková ****************************************************************************************** Článek v PDF ke stažení [ URL "LM-814-version1-reviews.pdf"] Ondřej Daniel’s book “Big beat or Turbofolk” seeks to explore the topic of imagination amo communities from the former Yugoslavia across several countries, namely, Austria, the Czec France. In order to capture these imaginations along with a complicated “web” of connectio spaces of different nation-states, the author fittingly chose a strategy of multiple-site 15–23). This places Daniel’s work in the area of transnational migration studies and (post theory, which is also reflected in the chosen theoretical framework and bibliography (e.g. Appadurai, Bhaba, Said and others). The author also seeks inspiration in cultural studies, Birmingham school as well as authors influenced by Marxism, including Gramsci, Harvey, Wal Žižek (p. 153). Moreover, not only does such research ask for specific theoretical and met anchoring but, as Daniel claims, also a specific style of writing – the author himself str “experiment.” He suggests that the best way of representing research that puts an emphasis imagination, memories and dreams can be found in Deleuze’s and Guattari’s rhizomatic style p. 11). In this manner, Daniel’s book opens up the truly fascinating topic of migrants’ im certainly deserves the attention of the social sciences. The question of what impels so many persons to be on the move is indeed a relevant questio increasing world’s population – in an era that has been referred to as the “age of migrati Brettel and Hollifield 2001). “Big beat and Turbofolk” is a contribution to the growing ar studies that reflect on these trends. Understanding migration indeed matters. People have thousands of years, but the “modern” form of migration is of a different character and it elaborates on. In his book he locates and focuses on various economic, political and demog enabling and determining migration. However, despite the title and the overall goal to fol imagination, what the book misses is that the moving force behind many of the journeys can precisely to the realm of imagination. Daniel’s book sets out on an ambitious path, but, u all the goals that the author sets are successfully tackled. So what are the “benefits and “Big beat or Turbolfolk”? Formally, “Big beat or Turbolfolk” fulfils all of the standards of an academic text – when the methodological premises, the interpretation line and the textual representation of the research entails both synchronic and diachronic dimensions. Thus, he explains the phenomen historical context while including other social forces present. The major drawback of Dani it does not exhaust the full potential of the topic. Despite the author’s call for anthrop – the “bottom to top approach” which he himself seems to implement – the final textual rep as well as the interpretation line fail to bring a deeper understanding of the world of th Unfortunately, the reader rarely gets a better picture of the emic view and migrants’ unde their old and their new homes. This is more than surprising as the author applies the rese social anthropology – participant observation in particular (p. 153). This restricts reade to one of an outsider’s eye – informed indeed, yet blind to certain movements of the “soul Certainly, an etic account is as relevant as an emic one; different research suits various when it comes to the endeavor of comprehending migrants’ imagination, it becomes limiting productive. The insider’s view generally appears in the form of interview and blog quotes the reader deeper insight into the individual perceptions of complicated Balkan identities an approach similar to Appadurai’s, in which macrostructural focus – an etic perspective – inevitably leads to shifts in meaning and generalizations, while the emic dimension is, so in translation.” For instance, in the chapter devoted to Turbofolk, Narodna muzika (nation Novo komponovana narodna muzika (newly composed folk music) genres Daniel quotes an interv informant from Paris” from January 2007: “…I don’t like folklore very much. I like traditi the real one. The new one [folk music] is kitsch, it’s terrible, I fear it! It’s for the v the game of money…” (p. 109). Even though Daniel puts this quote into the context of a so-to-say fitting analysis of the genre, it does not become explicitly clear in the text why this informant would dislike it wonder whether she is a Serb from Bosnia, Croatia or Serbia or some other nationality, wha political views are, her social status, etc. Thus, the reader, especially one who is not f ehtnoscapes of the former Yugoslavia, cannot understand the meaning. Moreover, the author to explain why she would fear the music genre and fails to highlight the tight relation be extreme nationalism and direct linkages to people like Željko and Ceca Ražnatović and some atrocities that took place in the latest war (see Slavkova 2011). Overall, the author tend former Yugoslavian diaspora as a relatively unproblematic unit of social cohesion as if th drawn on national and religious bases didn’t matter. Further problems develop around the structure of the text and the final style of writing. mentioned the author attempts to provide the reader with more of an experimental form of “ writing” (p. 11). He claims that: “the reader can start reading this work at any point and to another arbitrary point” (ibid.). Clearly, this goal is daring and unfortunately it doe meet the practice. The book is overall structured as a classical academic manuscript confo general conventions and is, thus, far from an organic, tree-like structure of rhizome. It introduction, has a clearly defined body of the text and ends, “instead of a conclusion,” chapter titled “Big beat or Turbofolk” (for the rhizome has neither a beginning nor an end is true that in order to read individual chapters one doesn’t need to follow their order. represents a separate chapter reflecting on a related yet independent topic. The result is a classic academic text and an encyclopedia – partly an examination of social theory relev studied problematids, partly a handbook of emigration from the Balkans to chosen destinati overview of studies of lifestyle and popular culture. The synopsis of “Big beat or Turbofolk” on the back cover begins: “Tell me what music you I will tell you what kind of a person you are. And also the films you like, how you descri from work and which interpretation of history you believe…” Alas, Daniel’s book manages on answer these questions. On the other hand, Daniel’s work needs to be appreciated as a valu to larger research endeavors concerning Balkan and migration studies. “Big beat or Turbofo intriguing topic of migration, identity, lifestyle and nationalism and serves as a valuabl source of information of the phenomena. Furthermore, it can be recommended as an interesti expert on the former Yugoslavia. Markéta Slavková [ URL "LM-357.html "]