Approaching the public representation of a “difficult past” as a macro-level impression management dilemma, this article addresses how states manage reputation-damaging elements of their histories on global stages. Through an empirical case study, I examine how the Croatian government has represented the country to international audiences via tourism after the wars of Yugoslav secession. Challenging assumptions that contentious historical moments will be commemorated, I find that the state has managed Croatia's “difficult” recent past through covering and cultural reframing rather than public acknowledgment. The country has omitted the war from representations of national history and repositioned Croatia as identical in history and culture to its Western European neighbors. I draw from Goffman's work on stigma to explain the Croatian case and to develop a broader theoretical framework for understanding the conditions under which public recognition of reputation-damaging events is likely not to occur. I conclude by discussing theoretical implications for scholarship on collective memory, cultural sociology, and world polity theory.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Agence France-Presse.1997. “Dubrovnik, ‘Pearl of the Adriatic’Wipes Out the Scars of War”.
July 30.
2.
AlexanderJeffrey.2004. “Toward a Theory of Cultural Trauma”. Pp. 1–29 in Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity, edited by AlexanderJ. C.EyermanR.GiesenB.SmelserN. J.SztompkaP.. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
BandeljNina.2002. “Embedded Economies: Social Relations as Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in Central and Eastern Europe”. Social Forces81: 411–44.
5.
BaranowskiShelleyFurloughEllen, eds.2001. Being Elsewhere: Tourism, Consumer Culture, and Identity in Modern Europe and North America. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
6.
BotevNikolai.1994. “Where East Meets West: Ethnic Intermarriage in the Former Yugoslavia 1962 to 1989”. American Sociological Review59: 461–80.
7.
BourdieuPierre.1977. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
8.
CalhounCraig.1997. Nationalism. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
9.
ÇavlekNevenka2002. “Tour Operators and Destination Safety”. Annals of Tourism Research29: 478–96.
10.
Central Bureau of Statistics.2007. Statistical Yearbook 2006. Zagreb, Croatia: Central Bureau of Statistics.
11.
Chamber of Economy.2006. “Tourism”. Zagreb, Croatia: Chamber of Economy.
Retrieved March 15, 2007 (http://www2.hgk.hr/en/depts/tourism/Turizam_2006.pdf).
12.
CharmazKathy.2001. “Grounded Theory”. Pp. 335–52 in Contemporary Field Research. 2nd ed., edited by EmersonR. M.. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland.
13.
CifricIvan.2004. Modernization and Identity in Croatian Society.
Working Paper,University of Zagreb.
14.
ClarkJayne.1998. “Croatia's Comfort Zone”. USA Today,
July 17, p. D1.
15.
CollinsRandall.2004. Interaction Ritual Chains. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
16.
Commission of the European Communities.2006. “Progress Report”. Brussels, Belgium: Commission of the European Communities.
Retrieved March 18, 2007 (http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/key_documents/reports_nov_2006_en.htm).
17.
ConfinoAlonFritzschePeter, eds.2002. The Work of Memory. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
18.
CraneDiana.2002. “Culture and Globalization”. Pp. 1–25 in Global Culture, edited by CraneD.KawashimaN.KawasakiK.. New York: Routledge.
19.
Croatian National Tourist Board (CNTB).2003a. Croatia Like a Picture, a Picture Like Croatia. Zagreb, Croatia: CNTB.
20.
Croatian National Tourist Board (CNTB).2003b. Magical Croatia. Zagreb, Croatia: CNTB.
21.
Croatian National Tourist Board (CNTB).2003c. The Wondrous Natural Heritage of Croatia. Zagreb, Croatia: CNTB.
22.
Croatian National Tourist Board (CNTB).2004a. Croatia. Zagreb, Croatia: CNTB.
23.
Croatian National Tourist Board (CNTB).2004b. Croatian Cultural Heritage. Zagreb, Croatia: CNTB.
24.
DahlesHeidi.1998. “Redefining Amsterdam as a Tourist Destination”. Annals of Tourism Research25: 55–69.
25.
DannGraham.1996. “The People of Tourist Brochures”. Pp. 61–82 in The Tourist Image, edited by SelwynT.. Chichester, UK: John Wiley.
26.
DiMaggioPaul.1990. “Cultural Aspects of Economic Organization and Behavior”. Pp. 113–36 in Beyond the Marketplace: Rethinking Economy and Society, edited by FriedlandR.RobertsonA. F.. Chicago, IL: Aldine.
27.
DiMaggioPaul.1997. “Culture and Cognition”. Annual Review of Sociology23: 263–87.
28.
EglitisDaina.2002. Imagining the Nation: History, Modernity, and Revolution in Latvia. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.
29.
EmighRebecca.1997. “The Power of Negative Thinking: The Use of Negative Case Methodology in the Development of Sociological Theory”. Theory and Society26: 649–84.
30.
FineGary Alan.1996. “Reputational Entrepreneurs and the Memory of Incompetence: Melting Supporters, Partisan Warriors, and Images of President Harding”. American Journal of Sociology101: 1159–93.
31.
FineGary AlanBeimAaron2007. “Interactionist Approaches to Collective Memory”. Symbolic Interaction30: 1–5.
32.
GableEricHandlerRichard1996. “After Authenticity at an American Heritage Site”. American Anthropologist98: 568–78.
33.
GelmanAndrewPasaricaCristianDodhiaRahul2002. “Let's Practice What We Preach: Turning Tables into Graphs”. American Statistician56: 121–30.
34.
GiesenBernhard.2004. “The Trauma of Perpetrators”. Pp. 112–54 in Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity, edited by AlexanderJ. C.EyermanR.GiesenB.SmelserN. J.SztompkaP.. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
35.
GoffmanErving.1959. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Anchor.
36.
GoffmanErving.1963. Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. New York: Prentice Hall.
37.
GoffmanErving.1981. Forms of Talk. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
38.
GrazianDavid.2004. “The Production of Popular Music as a Confidence Game: The Case of the Chicago Blues”. Qualitative Sociology27: 137–58.
39.
HalbwachsMaurice.1992. On Collective Memory. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
40.
HarveyDavid.2001. Spaces of Capital. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press.
41.
HerzfeldMichael.2002. “The Absent Presence: Discourses of Crypto-Colonialism”. South Atlantic Quarterly101: 899–926.
42.
HobsbawmEricRangerTerence, eds.1992. The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
43.
HodsonRandySekulićDuökoMasseyGarth1994. “National Tolerance in the Former Yugoslavia”. American Journal of Sociology99: 1534–58.
44.
Institute for Tourism.2000. “Effects of Tourism on the Croatian Economy”. Zagreb, Croatia: Institute for Tourism.
Retrieved March 18, 2007 (http://www.iztzg.hr/iztzg-eng/iztzg-eng/croatian-tourism/effects.htm).
45.
Irwin-ZareckaIwona1994. Frames of Remembrance: The Dynamics of Collective Memory. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
46.
JackallRobert.1988. Moral Mazes: The World of Corporate Managers. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
47.
JenkinsRichard.2004. Social Identity. London, UK: Routledge.
48.
JudtTony.2005. Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945. New York: Penguin.
49.
KunovichRobertHodsonRandy1999. “Civil War, Social Integration, and Mental Health in Croatia”. Journal of Health and Social Behavior40: 323–43.
50.
LamontMichèle.Forthcoming.“Destigmatization Strategies and Inclusion as Dimensions of Successful Societies”.
InSuccessful Societies, edited by HallP.LamontM.. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
51.
LamontMichèleMolnarVirag2002. “The Study of Boundaries in the Social Sciences”. Annual Review of Sociology28: 167–95.
52.
LandryCharles.1998. “From Barriers to Bridges: Re-imagining Croatian Cultural Policy”.
Report to the Council of Europe. Strasbourg, France: Council of Europe.
53.
LennonJohnFoleyMalcolm2002. Dark Tourism. London, UK: Continuum.
54.
LinkBrucePhelanJo2001. “Conceptualizing Stigma”. Annual Review of Sociology27: 363–85.
55.
MacCannellDean.1989. The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class. New York: Schocken.
56.
MerridaleCatherine.1999. “War, Death, and Remembrance in Soviet Russia”. Pp. 61–83 in War and Remembrance in the Twentieth Century, edited by WinterJ.SivanE.. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
57.
MeyerJohnBoliJohnThomasGeorgeRamirezFrancisco1997. “World Society and the Nation-State”. American Journal of Sociology103: 144–81.
58.
MitchellJon.2002. Ambivalent Europeans: Ritual, Memory and the Public Sphere in Malta. London, UK: Routledge.
59.
MitchellTimothy.2001. “Making the Nation: The Politics of Heritage in Egypt”. Pp. 212–39 in Consuming Tradition, Manufacturing Heritage: Global Norms and Urban Forms in the Age of Tourism, edited by AlSayyadN.. London, UK: Routledge.
60.
MowforthMartinMuntIan2003. Tourism and Sustainability. London, UK: Routledge.
61.
NaimarkNorman.2001. Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
62.
NATO.1998. “Trip Report: Visit to Croatia”.Brussels, Belgium: Sub-Committee on NATO Enlargement and the New Democracies.
Retrieved April 8, 2007 (http://www.nato-pa.int/archivedpub/trip/ar67cc984-croatia.asp).
63.
OlickJeffrey.2003. “What Does it Mean to Normalize the Past?: Official Memory in German Politics since 1989”. Pp. 259–88 in States of Memory, edited by OlickJ.. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
64.
OlickJeffrey.2007. The Politics of Regret. New York: Routledge.
65.
PizamAbrahamMansfeldYoel, eds.1996. Tourism, Crime, and International Security Issues. Chichester, UK: John Wiley.
66.
PodolnyJoel.2005. Status Signals. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
67.
ProstAntoine.1999. “The Algerian War in French Collective Memory”. Pp. 161–76 in War and Remembrance in the Twentieth Century, edited by WinterJ.SivanE.. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
68.
RametSabrina P.2005. Thinking about Yugoslavia. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
69.
RendonJim.2003. “When Nations Need a Little Marketing”. New York Times,
November 23.
70.
SchudsonMichael.1984. “Embarrassment and Erving Goffman's Idea of Human Nature”. Theory and Society13: 633–48.
71.
SchudsonMichael.1989. “How Culture Works: Perspectives from Media Studies on the Efficacy of Symbols”. Theory and Society18: 153–80.
72.
SchudsonMichael.1992. Watergate in American Memory: How We Remember, Forget, and Reconstruct the Past. New York: Basic Books.
73.
SchwartzBarry.1996. “Memory as a Cultural System: Abraham Lincoln in World War II”. American Sociological Review61: 908–27.
74.
SimonsMarlise.2005. “War Crimes Case Revives Passions in a Divided Croatia”. New York Times,
December 12.
75.
SomersMargaretBlockFred2005. “From Poverty to Perversity: Ideas, Markets, and Institutions over 200 Years of Welfare Debate”. American Sociological Review70: 260–87.
76.
SpillmanLyn.1997. Nation and Commemoration: Creating National Identities in the United States and Australia. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
77.
SpillmanLyn.2003. “When Do Collective Memories Last?: Founding Moments in the United States and Australia”. Pp. 161–92 in States of Memory, edited by OlickJ.. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
78.
SwidlerAnn.1986. “Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies”. American Sociological Review51: 273–86.
79.
TannerMarcus.2001. Croatia: A Nation Forged in War. 2nd ed.New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
80.
UngerBrooke.1998. “The Balkans: Europe's Roughest Neighborhood”. The Economist, January24, pp. 3–18.
Vinitzky-SeroussiVered2002. “Commemorating a Difficult Past: Yitzhak Rabin's Memorials”. American Sociological Review67: 30–51.
83.
Wagner-PacificiRobinSchwartzBarry1991. “The Vietnam Veterans Memorial: Commemorating a Difficult Past”. American Journal of Sociology97: 376–420.
84.
WherryFrederick.2007. “Trading Impressions: Evidence from Costa Rica”. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science610: 217–31.
85.
World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).2002. Croatia: The Impact of Travel and Tourism on Jobs and the Economy. London, UK: WTTC.
86.
YangLawrence H.KleinmanArthurLinkBruce G.PhelanJoLeeSingGoodByron2007. “Culture and Stigma: Adding Moral Experience to Stigma Theory”. Social Science and Medicine64: 1524–35.
87.
YinRobert K.2003. Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
88.
ZelizerViviana.1997. The Social Meaning of Money. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
