Niko Županić i konstrukcija jugoslovenske etnogeneze

Abstract

U radu se razmatra uloga Nika Županića u procesima prevođenja antropoloških i arheoloških znanja na jezik političkog aktivizma tokom Prvog svetskog rata i neposredno nakon njega. Kako beleži Sima Trojanović, Županić je u maju 1914. godine zaposlen u Etnografskom muzeju u Beogradu, kao 'činovnik za antropologiju' čiji je zadatak bio 'da na prvom mestu vrši merenja srpskog naroda, pa tek onda tuđinaca na Balkanskom poluostrvu'. Ovde je zvanično radio sve do 1922. godine, iako je ratne godine proveo van zemlje baveći se političkom propagandom, uz druge srpske i jugoslovenske intelektualce, a zarad stvaranja države Jugoslovena. Kada je počeo Prvi svetski rat, Županić se prijavio kao dobrovoljac zbog čega je prva tri meseca rata proveo u Nišu, da bi potom bio upućen u Rim, a zatim u London, gde je učestvovao u radu Jugoslovenskog odbora. Tokom 1916. srpska vlada ga je poslala u SAD s ciljem da zadobije podršku američkih Slovenaca u zalaganju za jugoslovenske ideje. U periodu od 1915. pa do kraja rata, on je pisao studije o južnoslovenskoj prošlosti i političke proglase, crtao granice željenih teritorija i držao govore o ujedinjenju Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca. Njegova knjiga Etnogeneza Jugoslovena (1920), koja je pisana tokom rata i bila prvobitno namenjena za englesko tržište, na adekvatan način prikazuje preplitanje svih ovih elemenata. U njoj Županić ističe 'stvaralačku moć krvi i rasnog izvora' brahikefalije ilirskih starosedelaca kod Jugoslovena. Stoga, kritička analiza i kontekstualizacija ovog dela omogućava nove uvide u shvatanja identiteta u istoriji domaće antropologije i arheologije. Reč je o studiji koja u svom vremenu nije imala široku recepciju u arheološkim krugovima, ali čije su ideje naknadno, selektivno i posredno postale nasleđe istorije srpske arheologije.

The paper considers the role of Niko Županić in the processes of translation of the anthropological and archaeological knowledges into the language of the political activism during the First World War and immediately after. As recorded by Sima Trojanović, Županić was employed at the Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade in May 1914, as 'anthropological clerk' with the duty to 'first of all measure the Serbian people, and only after that the foreigners on the Balkan Peninsula'. He was officially stationed here up to 1922, although he spent the war years out of the country, involved in political activism, along with other Serbian and Yugoslav intellectuals, with the aim of creating the state of the Yugoslavs. At the outbreak of the First World War, Županić spent the first three months as a volunteer in Niš, and was then sent to Rome and London, where he took part in the activities of the Yugoslav Board. During 1916 the Serbian Government sent him to the United States, to secure the support of the American Slovenes for the Yugoslav idea. From 1915 till the end of the war, he wrote studies on the South Slavic past and political announcements, drew the borders of the desired territories, held speeches on the unity of the Serbs, Slovenes, and Croats. His book Ethnogenesis of the Yugoslavs (1920), written during the war and at first aimed at the English-speaking audience, richly illustrates the ways in which all these activities intertwined. Here Županić stresses the 'creative potency of the blood and racial source' of brachycephaly of the Illyrian natives observed in the case of the Yugoslavs. The critical analysis and contextualization of this volume makes possible the new insights into the concepts of identity in the history of the Serbian anthropology and archaeology. This study did not receive much attention in the archaeological circles, but its ideas have subsequently, selectively and indirectly become the part of the history of the Serbian archaeology.