History and Anthropology. The Yugoslav Focus in the Work of Niko éupaniË
Starting from the reasonable assumption that historiographic narratives contributed to the
construction of a Yugoslav identity, beyond the circle of professional historiographers it
would seem useful to take the broader sphere of cultural studies into consideration, too. Here
we see that the methods of historiography, or various diachronic aspects, have played a
certain role for the question of the making of a Yugoslav identity as well. Our focus will be
restricted to ethnography, ethnology, and anthropology, disciplines which were represented by
the Slovene scholar Niko éupaniË (1876-1961), who was influenced by the Serbian
geographer and anthropologist Jovan CvijiË. In 1908, éupaniË stated that „the anthropological
momentum“ was neglected by the history of nations, so that they would consequently remain
incomplete. This momentum he also called the „physical habitus“ of a nation. It comprises all
aspects of the outward appearance of an individual, such as build, shape of the cranium,
complexion, temperament, gesticulation, motor activity, and the ways of speaking and
thinking. The outward appearance would render difference between nations, but could
eventually change in the course of history.
This theoretical approach had at least two consequences for the historiographic concepts of
the Yugoslav people: It posed a common descent of the south Slavs who, according to
éupaniË, came as a uniform stratum to the Balkans in the 6th century AD and were only
thereafter differentiated by the Serb and Croat tribes that arrived some decades later.
Secondly, it posed a „racial aesthetic“ which was common heritage of all Yugoslavs and could
be exemplified by the high symbolic meaning of the battle of Kosovo for them, be they Serbs,
Croats, or Slovenes.
éupaniË was born in a catholic village in the region of Bela Krajina in southern Carniola. This
region was marked for its ethnic and religious diversity. A part of the population was of
Uskok descent, which was also expressed by their cultural heritage (songs, dances). In the
course of nation building, according to confessional lines, they attained either a Slovene
(Catholic), a Croat (Greek-Catholic), or a Serb (Orthodox and Greek-Catholic) identity. Bela
krajina can therefore, in some ways, be described as a „Yugoslavia en miniature“.
éupaniË studied geography, law, history, prehistory, and archaeology at the University of
Vienna, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation on the „Arrival of the Slavs in the South“.
During his studies, he abandoned his connections with the liberal Slovenes and joined a group
of Serb students. In 1901, he was co-editor of the Vienna-based short-lived political journal
„Jug“ (The South) which yearned for the political union of the South Slavs. Jovan CvijiË
invited him to come to Serbia, where éupaniË became curator of the Museum of Art History.
After the outbreak of World War One, he persuaded the Serbian government to liberate
Slovenia, and he joined the armed forces of the Kingdom in its fight against Austria-Hungary.
He also became member of the Yugoslav committee. During the peace talks he helped Jovan
CvijiË determine the territorial claims of the new-born Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and
Slovenes at its northern border towards Austria. In 1922, he became a member of the
Yugoslav government for a short period. Already in 1921 he had founded the Slovene branch
of the National Radical Party, actually a Serb party, which never had any success in this part
of the kingdom. After 1923, éupaniË concentrated on his academic career. In 1921, he had
become director of the Ethnographic Museum in Ljubljana. From this position, he edited the
renowned journal „Etnolog“. In 1940, he also became the first professor for Ethnology at the
University of Ljubljana.
There are several outstanding aspects of éupaniË's life and work, which have to be dealt with:
1. His hailing of the Kingdom of Serbia after the turn of the century was soon shared by his
Slovene academic colleagues, but their Yugoslav enthusiasm would gradually decrease
some years after the foundation of Yugoslavia, since they became critical of the Unitarian
Yugoslavism of the regime. Since éupaniË was also not a member of the Slovenian group
of Yugoslav Unitarians which rallied around the Democratic Party, it is to assume that he
became politically isolated in Slovenia. However, he preserved his high standing at the allstate level. In his academic work, he seemed to support the Unitarian turn of King
Alexander in 1929, when he proclaimed his personal dictatorship and renamed the
Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Here,
éupaniË's connection between history and anthropology served all the more as a political
projection of a common Yugoslav identity back onto the Early Middle Ages.
2. It seems to be a result of his integral Yugoslavism that Niko éupaniË's contributions to the
Slovene ethnology were restricted to his native region of Bela krajina, which by its cultural
heritage had the closest links to the southern nations of the common state.
3. éupaniË had a special focus on physical anthropology, which included such methods as the
measurement of the cephalic index, which became prominent in Germany under Nazi-rule.
In the 1930s, such an approach seemed to be of political relevance, since it could contribute
to a „biological“ foundation of an authoritarian Yugoslav nation state. But comparisons
with similar attempts in the Third Reich must not be drawn too far, since éupaniË
explicitly criticised the racial laws of Nuremberg.
Even if éupaniË was an outstanding personality, he nonetheless belonged in the ranks of
intellectuals in Austria-Hungary, linked by political labour for the foundation of a Yugoslav
state. His personal contribution to the historiographic foundation of a Yugoslav identity was
located in the field of Ethnology and in a „Historical Anthropology“, which was close to the
premises of the then very popular „racial science“. éupaniË, on the other hand, who had been
loyal to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia until its demise, would join the National Liberation Army
after 1941 and enjoy a high renown as scholar in the second Yugoslavia.