Усклици искреног одушевљења: ефемерни спектакл и путовање краља Александра и краљице Драге Обреновић по Србији 1901. године

English title: Exclamations of Sincere Enthusiasm: The Ephemeral Spectacle and the Journey of King Alexander and Queen Draga Obrenović through Serbia in 1901

The monograph Exclamations of Sincere Enthusiasm examines the 1901 journey of King Alexander and Queen Draga Obrenović through Serbia as an ephemeral spectacle, a public political ritual, and a form of symbolic communication between the monarchs, the state, local elites, and the population.

The journey is placed within the political context of the final years of the Obrenović dynasty, marked by a crisis of legitimacy, dynastic uncertainty, propaganda conflicts, and the increasingly visible activity of opponents of the regime. Public ceremonies in the Serbian interior are interpreted as organized performances of power, in which space, speeches, decorations, triumphal arches, flags, music, the army, the church, local authorities, and decorations of honour acquired political meaning.

The book uses a short-term event as an analytical entry point into the political culture of modern Serbia. The 1901 journey reveals relations between capital and province, monarchy and people, state propaganda and local patriotism, dynastic loyalty and the political conspiracy that was taking increasingly clear shape.

The analysis of local settings is especially important. Smederevo, Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Studenica, Žiča, Čačak, Užice, Dobrinja, Takovo, Gornji Milanovac, Vujan, Vraćevšnica, Divostin, Ub, and Niš are not only stops on the route, but spaces of different political messages, historical associations, local interests, and public performances of loyalty.

The book combines historiographical analysis, microhistory, social anthropology, discourse analysis, the study of political ritual, and the history of visual culture. Its main sources are contemporary newspapers, archival material, ceremonial speeches, lists of decorated persons, memoirs, photographs, postcards, and other visual sources.

The theoretical framework includes the study of ephemeral spectacle, symbolic interactionism, political performance, the anthropology of the state, microhistory, and public representation. Rituals, gestures, decorations, speeches, and space are interpreted as elements that did not merely represent political reality, but actively shaped it.