Dositej’s View of Dalmatia and the Phenomenon of Morlakism: A Contribution to Historical Imagology

Polazeći od teorijskih postavki historijske imagologije autor analizira predodžbe Dositeja Obradovića o Dalmaciji i njenom morlačkom stanovništvu u unutrašnjosti. Kao središnji problem postavlja se pitanje koliko su mentalni stavovi prosvjetiteljske epohe i specifični sociokulturni konteksti prostora „morlačke“ Dalmacije, posebno njene srpskopravoslavne sastavnice, utjecali na Dositejevo stvaranje i oblikovanje slika i predodžbi o zemlji i narodu. U tom razmatranju postoje zapravo dva Dositeja: „mladi“ iz dalmatinskog razdoblja koji je još uvijek pod utjecajem crkvene tradicije, i „zreli“ iz kasnijeg vremena, koji je već usvojio ideje prosvjetiteljskog doba. Većina Dositejevih predodžbi potječe iz zrelijeg razdoblja i u funkciji su njegova tada već potpuno izgrađenog prosvjetiteljsko-racionalističkoga vrijednosnog sustava. Višeslojnost njegovih pogleda na Dalmaciju ogleda se u kritici tri vrste fenomena: kritici praznovjerja i običaja morlačkog puka, kritici religijske kulture i vjerske nesnošljivosti među Morlacima „grčkog“ i „latinskog“ vjerozakona, te u kritici uloge koju običaji imaju u formiranju pojedinca i kulture uopće. Dositej ne slijedi u svemu književni diskurs morlakizma koji tada dominira u europskoj prosvjetiteljskoj literaturi. U dalmatinskim Morlacima ne prepoznaje „plemenite divljake“, nego plemenite priproste ljude, ne „otkriva“ egzotičan narod, već vlastiti („slavenosrpski“) narod koji želi podučiti i osvijestiti u prosvjetiteljskom duhu. Ono što ga najviše veže uz morlakistički diskurs jest umjerena idealizacija stanovnika dalmatinske unutrašnjosti: to su pravdoljubivi i pošteni ljudi, ali ih neprosvijećenost i praznovjerje čini zaostalim u svakom pogledu. Prema Morlacima ima ambivalentan odnos: o njima katkad piše s pozicije sunarodnjaka (Mi-odnos), a ponekad kao o Drugima, drukčijima od sebe (Oni-odnos), naročito u slučaju kritike običaja i praznovjerja. Kao poseban problem ističe vjersku nesnošljivost, ali izvor tome vidi u crkvenim krugovima, napose monaštvu, a ne u narodu, što ga čini bliskim Fortisu i Lovriću.Starting from the theoretical premises of historical imagology, this paper analyzes Dositej Obradović’s image of Dalmatia and the Morlak inhabitants of its hinterland. The central issue is the question to what extent the mental attitudes of the Enlightenment epoch and the specific socio-cultural context of “Morlak” Dalmatia, especially its Serbian Orthodox element, have influenced Dositej’s writing and the formation of his images and attitudes towards the region and its people. This study actually postulates two Dositejs: the “younger” one from the Dalmatian period, who was still under the influence of the ecclesiastical tradition, and the “mature” one from the later period, who has already appropriated the ideas of the Enlightenment era. For the most part, Dositej’s images originate from this mature period and function as a part of his enlightened and rational value system, which he had already elaborated by that time. His multilayered views on Dalmatia are mirrored in his critique of three different phenomena: the superstitions and customs of the Morlak people, the religious culture and mutual intolerance between the Morlaks of “Greek” and “Latin” confessions, and the role that folk customs played in creating the individual and culture as a whole. Dositej does not always resort to the Morlakist literary discourse, which prevailed in the European literature of the Enlightenment. For him, the Dalmatian Morlaks were not the “noble savages”, but rather noble simple people; he did not “discover” an exotic tribe, but rather his own (“Slavoserbian”) people, whom he sought to educate and awaken in the spirit of Enlightenment. What links him more than anything Dalmatian hinterland: he describes them as justice-loving and honest people, albeit backward in all respects owing to their lack of education and to their superstition. In fact, he seems to have had an ambivalent attitude towards the Morlaks: sometimes he writes about them from the position of their compatriot (the “we”-attitude), while at other times they are the Others, different from him (the “they”-attitude), especially when it comes to criticizing their folk customs and superstitions. As a special problem, Dositej mentions religious intolerance, but he sees its source in the ecclesiastical circles, especially the monastic orders, rather than the people as such, which brings him close to Fortis and Lovrić