NON-ALIGNMENT IN A STRUCTURALIST WAY

Abstract

Cognitive anthropology is utilized in this paper as a possible approach to - understanding Non-Alignment from a structuralist perspective, i. e. it shows how Claude Levi-Strauss’ culinary triangle can be used to understand the notion of Non-Alignment. According to Levi-Strauss, universal structures of a society are possible to comprehend by understanding its cuisine, i. e. its specific food-processing techniques. Given that, this paper shows how “Non-Alignment” is a ‘bonne-a-penser” term, by examining the structure of the term Non-Alignment, and ways it can be thought of (based on literature published in former Yugoslavia on Non-Alignment and the Non-Aligned Movement). Cognitive anthropology studies relations between human culture and human thought, and ways in which people understand and organize material objects, events and experiences that constitute their world (the way they perceive it in a cultural sense). Given that, Non-Alignment, although an impalpable phenomenon, is materially embodied in the Non-Aligned Movement and the Conferences of the Non-Aligned, while on the cognitive level it is organized through various oppositions. This paper showcases certain oppositions (neutrality : non-alignment; Non-Aligned Movement : First World; non-aligned countries : developed countries; Non-Aligned Movement : Imperialism), triangles (Non-Aligned Movement – Warsaw Pact – NATO Pact; East – West – Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia; political doctrine – idea – movement; Non-Aligned Movement – military blocs – neutrality), and concepts of the Non-Alignment (cooked : raw::nature : culture) which can act as cultural models.