Producing Old Serbia: in the footsteps of travel writers, on the path to folklore

This chapter looks at travel writing about “Old Serbia”, a specific 19th-century literary genre and production mechanism of territorial aspirations of Serbian nationalism. In the period when the described territories were under Ottoman rule, they were seen as both inaccessible to the vast portion of the Serbian population and a substantive part of their national territory. Thus, such travel writing was a unique way to present the public with firsthand information regarding these regions. After a brief historic overview of the development of the genre, the text provides an analysis of the literary mechanisms by which these territories were decisively marked as Serbian. Particular emphasis is placed on the importance of presenting scientific data in travelogues, such as those concerning language, customs etc