In Slovenia, the derogative expression chefur (Slov. čefur) can represent more categories: it can stand for all the immigrants from former Yugoslavia (except Albanians which are called by the derogative expression šiptari), or a certain form of youth subculture.
The research took place in Ljubljana in years 2001–2003.
I used literature on immigrants from former Yugoslav republics, identity, nationalism and youth subcultures, as well as newspaper articles and the information from online forums about the expression chefur.
The important starting point were interviews with four younger men. Three of them were 20-years-old and the forth one was 25. All four of them were the second generation of immigrants from the area of former Yugoslavia. One of them was from mixed marriage (his father was Slovenian).
But probably the most important source of the research on this topic was my everyday experience with the chefur subculture.
Note: The youth which is here referred to as a chefur subculture usually do not call themselves with this expression (with some exceptions which are becoming nowadays more often). It is an expression used by ‘the others’ in the Slovenian public.
Second generation of immigrants
Chefur subculture
So-called chefurs can be seen as a subculture in Slovenia, who are known for their arrogant and aggressive behaviour and are part of second generation of immigrants, mostly from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia.
Timeline of the appearance of so-called chefurs
A large number of migrations to Slovenian cities happened between 1961 and 1971 (Tavčar in Vovk 1980, 29), followed by the new immigrant wave in 1970’s as an answer to the necessity for new workers. Immigrants in this period were mostly workers from Bosnia-Herzegovina, usually young people from rural areas. The immigration continued also in 1980’s (Vovk 1980, 31-32).
Researchers of workers’ housing problem in Ljubljana in 1980’s have noticed that mostly Ljubljana’s older people did not accept immigrants. They were looked upon as second-grade citizens (Vovk 1980, 89). Almost all immigrants from former Yugoslavian republics have became known as Bosnians (Slov. Bosanci), which was used as a derogative word. (Today, word Bosnian does not have such a negative meaning as it had before).
In the middle of 1990’s, on the streets of Slovenian cities appeared groups referred to as chefurs. This is also the period when the great part of second generation of immigrants from former Yugoslav republics came into the adolescent age.
By reading Slovenian online forums, the appearance of chefur subculture had raised a great deal of anxiety in the general public, mostly because of their arrogant and aggressive behaviour. What is more, the annoyance by this group had become interchangeable with the annoyance by the immigrant communities in general. However, it is important to separate the behaviour of certain groups from the communities in general, which they are part of.
Characteristics of chefurs
Velikonja characterizes the clothing of chefur subculture, called also čapci, dizelaši or šminkerji as similar to the fashion style which can be seen on the Serbian television Pink (Bivši domači 2002, 85), specializing in the production of ‘turbo-folk’ music.
As Velikonja observes, chefur subculture seem to have tendency to accentuate physical (sexual) attributes like hair, girls also face (eyes and lips) and breasts, boys their muscles. Physical appearance, sexuality, physical power (which is represented by muscles) and prestige (wearing prestigious brand names) seem to have priority in the chefur subculture. A 20-year-old interviewee noted: “The more they are noticed the better it is; the more perfume they use, the more their sportive clothes are white, the more music is loud, the more their car is ‘pimped’ – the more they exaggerate, the better it is.”
However, the clothing style which was significant for chefur subculture in 1990’s has slowly disappeared. The uniformity which was until recently composed by Yellow Cab shoes and Big Star trousers was taken over by the mainstream (pop culture) style, which is dictated mostly by the MTV music videos. With this a question appeared: is chefur subculture disappearing because of the fading of their distinctive and specific fashion image? Yet, I would argue chefur subculture is not defined only by their clothing but mostly by their behaviour and thinking. Maybe chefur subculture is not that visible in the crowd anymore and maybe we cannot hear them in which language they are speaking, or we cannot conclude how they are thinking from their conversation, but we can still notice the way they are wearing something or the way they are walking.
Similar to the style of chefur subculture was the style of young Suriname immigrants in Amsterdam, which had been including certain clothing, for example a specific cap or a bumper jacket (Sansone 1995, 119). They were wearing expensive sportive clothes (Benetton, Adidas, Puma) and they got the inspiration for the modern haircuts in the music videos and magazines. Young Creoles had to look rough. Their behaviour included specific gests such as gorilla walk (rocking the body meanwhile walking), specific way of greeting in the public and emphasizing certain statements with the specific moving of the limbs. They were creating the style of break-dancers and electric-boogie (in the beginning of 1980’s) and later of hip-hopers (Sansone 1995, 123).
Understanding chefur subculture
I believe the emergence of chefur subculture is in the first place connected to their marginal situation. Appearance of this subculture can be in my opinion viewed as a certain answer to a feeling of weakness and rejection which they felt as being children of immigrants. In this sense, aggressive behaviour of so-called chefurs can be seen as a kind of reaction to the despising relationship in the Slovenian public towards their personal environment – families from which they are coming from.
Moreover, chefur subculture can be looked upon as the phenomenon with the transition characteristics. As one interviewee said: “You won’t see 27-year-old chefur walking on the street and causing problems. This is part of puberty. As every other period passes, so does this one. This is only transition period. Older chefur wouldn’t wear sportive clothes and Yellow Cab shoes.” Also so-called chefurs grow up. With the fourth generation of immigrants from the area of former Yugoslavia probably there will not be any more chefur subculture, maybe not already with the third generation.
To conclude, the emergence of chefur subculture can be connected to the appearance of other subcultures. As James explains, adolescents are seeing themselves as a marginal part of society, as nobody. They object this uncertainty with style which otherwise pears are experiencing as conventional (Cohen 1994, 67), meanwhile others perceive it as a threat. Like this were for an example Hell Angels at the end of 1970’s in England whose lifestyle was structured by powerful motors, loud rock music and frequently also very violent behaviour.
Or in words of one interviewee: “Someone becomes skater, the other one punker, the third one chefur”.
Cited literature:
Cohen, Anthony P. 1994: Self Consciousness: An Alternative Anthropology of Identity. London & New York, Routledge.
Sansone, Livio 1995: The making of a black youth culture: Lower-class young men of Surinamese origin in Amsterdam. In: Vered Amit-Talai in Helena Wulff (ur.), Youth cultures: a cross-cultural perspective. London, Routledge, 114-143.
Velikonja, Mitja 2002: Bivši domači - balkanska kultura na Slovenskem po letu 1991: Od rdeče k rumeni zvezdi. In: Balcanis let. 2, št. 3. Ljubljana, 79-86.
Vovk, Marija 1980: Stanovanjska problematika priseljenih delavcev v Ljubljani. Ljubljana, Urbanistični inštitut SR Slovenije.
An abstract from the article Chefur Subculture, published in Roaming Anthropology, EASC, Belgrade 2006.