The modern and the Monster
Heritage Activism in the Post-Socialist City Between Performance and Performativity
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7172701 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jovana Janinovic (0000-0003-0945-0633, University of Montenegro, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 481-505 |
| Publication date | 2025-03-16 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Urban Geography (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0272-3638 • E-ISSN: 1938-2847 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/02723638.2024.2376897 |
| OpenAlex | W4401033887 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 38 |
This paper explores the role of urban grassroot movements in the social configuration of contentious heritage and multiple temporalities and political articulations of heritage defense activism. Using the case study method, the paper traces the genealogy of one urban movement in defense of socialist modernist heritage in contemporary Montenegro, shedding light on the process of slow political recognition as opposed to the wide and rampant repertoire of urban contention and socio-cultural appropriation. Focusing on the events following the announcement of the construction of the 12-floor skyscraper (colloquially dubbed "the Monster") in the immediate proximity of the iconic modernist Hotel Podgorica, the paper theorizes the capacity of urban activism in the contemporary post-socialist city to activate heritage dynamics and leverage urban knowledge as a tool of cultural control. Relying on a multi-method approach including participatory observations, interviews, urban and critical discourse analysis, and the archival research, this paper provides a multi-perspectival analysis of the complex interactions between contentious heritage, grassroot movements and political performativity in the post-socialist city. The results shed light on the evolving role of citizenship in urban development, signaling a paradigm shift towards engaged architecture and emancipatory urban activism as mechanisms for mitigating institutional inefficiencies and political performativity
Aesthetics · Appropriation · Art · Contentious politics · Epistemology · Media studies · Performative utterance · Performativity · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social movement · Sociology · Urbanism · Visual arts · Balkans: History, Politics, Society · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Gender Studies · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Urban Studies · Architecture
The Weakness of Civil Society in Post-Communist Europe
Urban Grassroots Movements in Central and Eastern Europe
Heritage Contests
The urbanization of transition
Urban fallism
We Are All Beranselo’
Transnational activism against heritage destruction as a human rights violation in Romania before and after 1989
Rethinking the post-socialist city
Landscapes of Postmodernity
"Urban Pulse—Claiming "The Right to the City
Middle-class struggles against high-rise construction in Buenos Aires. Urban democratization or enforcement of particular interests
From modernism to kitsch
The Bronze Soldier
The post-socialist cities from Central and Eastern Europe
Routledge Handbook of Memory Activism
Performative Governance
War Memorials and the Politics of Memory
Redress, memorials and activism
A rampant heritage? Problematising heritage activism through the Casa del Pumarejo social movement
The right to the city
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |