Serbia as a Space of Identity: On Some Discursive Strategies in Journey through Serbia and Montenegro by E. Markov.

This paper tackles Evgeny Lvovich Markov’s (Russian: Ев- гений Львович Марков) study A Trip through Serbia and Montenegro [Putovanje kroz Srbiju i Crnu Goru] (1903), interpreting the travelogue as an ethnographic observation, journalistic report, historiography, and literary narration. The assumption is Markov’s frame of reference for Serbia is a symbolic space used for examining Slavic identity paradigm, shaped by the relentless similarity and separation process. Methodologically, this study relies on discourse analysis with close attention paid to the rhetorical strategy of similarity aiming to establish mostly physical and ideological connection between Serbia and the Ukraine. However, some of these parallels are often asymmetrical, subtly emphasizing distance and “otherness”. Thus, the nuanced relational identity and estrangement dynamic rooted in Slavophile construction is generated.