The Likeness

"The Likeness is a close ethnographic study of subjectivity in the former Yugoslav republic of Slovenia. In this highly imaginative work, the author argues that Slovenes provide a remarkable counterbalance to Western notions of a divided inner and outer self by playing with surface level resemblances, or likenesses. Such practices render the complexity of self-expression as external and legible, but as of the last several decades, very rarely unique or original. Bakke takes a deep dive into a range of topics-from art worlds to punk to mental illness-to ask questions about the shift in Slovene identity. By engaging with some of anthropology's most pressing theoretical debates as well as some of Slovenia's most important thinkers, this book explores how one can understand the meaning of self and individuality in a society that values convention"--