SERBIAN ANTHROPOLOGY IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES OR: VOLUNTARY (SELF)COLONIZATION

Abstract

In case of anthropology and other humanist disciplines, insisting of the Serbian Ministry of Science to value higher papers published in English, leads to an absurd situation for those sciences in which they contradict themselves. All humanist disciplines are most commonly focused on society in which they operate, its better understanding and therefore its better functioning and/or change. Thus, they are focused on national markets and if that fact is neglected humanities loose their meaning entirely. Publishing the results of humanist research in a foreign language, in a country where enormous segments of population have problems knowing their own language, makes those results absolutely unavailable to the wider public, and humanities existence purposeless, since those disciplines’ results are not (or at least shouldn’t be) written solely for scientists from the same and/or related disciplines. On the other hand, for more than two decades international community has insisted on preservation of as much languages as possible (UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity 2001, UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage 2003). That also meant revitalization and reconstruction of languages which practically went out of use by mid 20th century and introduction of multi-lingual opportunities in all areas of life and work (including digital networks, databases etc.). Insisting of the Ministry of Science (i. e. the state, since the Ministry is the state’s agent) to give up publishing research results in one’s own language, is therefore in direct opposition to contemporary global cultural politics and policies – from such a fact one can sense reasons that have nothing to do with precipitation of quality of scientific production.