here's an intriguing one i saw this morning
The sausage that awakened a nation: the
Carniolan sausage in the Slovenian national
imagination, 1849–1918
Jernej Mlekuž
To cite this article: Jernej Mlekuž (2020) The sausage that awakened a nation: the Carniolan
sausage in the Slovenian national imagination, 1849–1918, Rethinking History, 24:3-4, 503-522,
DOI: 10.1080/13642529.2020.1831352
ABSTRACT
The article is based on the argument that the Carniolan sausage (kranjska
klobasa) played an important role in the formation and development of
Slovenian national awareness in the period between the Spring of Nations
and the end of World War I. The Carniolan sausage was an integral part of
a unified field of exchanges which enabled the collective recognition of the
members of the nation. The article then discusses its place in ‘banal nationalism’
– the daily nationalism that slips from our attention and daily reminds
people of their nationality. As a banal national symbol, highlighting national
differences and significance, the Carniolan sausage was a constant reminder of
the nation. In the last part, the article analyses its role in ‘nationalism from
below’, or everyday nationhood – the reproduction of nationhood by ordinary
people in everyday life. The Carniolan sausage demonstrates that nationalism is
not merely the result of a political programme or ideology, but primarily
a network or collection of people, objects, practices, places, institutions, ideologies,
technologies, ideas, symbols etc. which define the subjectivity of the
people, and form their actions and imagination.
