Intellectuals and the Nation in the post-Yugoslav context: elements for a critical discourse-based approach The intellectuals are an elusive social category. They escape easy definition, perhaps precisely because defining the world is what intellectual activity itself is essentially about (Bauman, 1987). Inherent to this capacity to define is the power of intellectuals to articulate, reproduce and possibly change salient aspects of the social world, primarily through a skilled use of language. A clear illustration of this is the crucial role played by the intelligentsia in the promotion of nationalism and the establishment of the modern nation-state (Smith, 1986; 1998; Gellner, 1983). Far from being a concluded historical process, nationalism(s) continue to be hegemonic in the contemporary world, especially in newly established states such as those of the former Yugoslavia. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that intellectuals continue to act as the promoters (but also as the critics) of nationalist ideologies even nowadays. The purpose of my presentation is to outline a critical discourse-based approach to intellectuals and nationalism, with a focus on the post-Yugoslav context. I will first devise an analytical framework for studying the specific ways in which intellectuals use language to represent and activate social reality, drawing on Pels’ (2000) theory of spokespersonship. Subsequently, I will examine the main dimensions of nationalist ideologies (in the post-Yugoslav context) and discuss how they manifest in discourse. In order to do so I will draw on existing research on nationalism, also in the field of critical discourse studies (e.g. Wodak et al., 2009). Lastly, I will apply this framework to the analysis of a text written by a Serbian public intellectual on the occasion of Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008.