Paper short abstract:

I wanted to scrutinize the kind and degree of the influence that urban settings had on the development of ethnicity in Serbia after World War II. As an example to start from I have taken the Montenegrin community in Serbia, which I began studying in 2009.

Paper long abstract:

Wanting to contribute to the understanding of ethnic relations in the Western Balkans, I have tried to study the relatively neglected issue of relations between ethnic processes in urban settings on the one hand, and those same processes in rural settings on the other. In other words, I wanted to scrutinize the kind and degree of the influence that urban settings had on the development of ethnicity in Serbia after World War II. As an example to start from I have taken the Montenegrin community in Serbia, which I began studying in 2009. By combining statistical analyses with the analysis of data from the field (interviews, observations), I have come to conclusions which, to a certain extent, confirm the existing knowledge about this theoretical issue, but also deepen the issue at some points or present it in an entirely different light. Research like this demands a complex approach, encompassed by a theoretical framework composed of theories of migration, theories of acculturation, theories of ethnicity and/or identity etc. I will give a special attention to economical aspect of the ethnic processes.