Intellectuals as nation-makers in the post-Yugoslav context Intellectuals, historically as well as today, have largely been engaged in nation-building, that is, the process of structuring national identities through the continuous creation and dissemination of national high cultures among the masses (Gellner 1983, Hobsbawm 1983, Smith 1996), to the point that they have been termed nation-makers (Suny & Kennedy 1999). Processes of nation-building are particularly sustained in the societies that emerged from the dissolution of Yugoslavia, which have since been faced with challenges stemming from the post-conflict situation, the post-socialist transition and European integration. The purpose of this talk is to explore how intellectuals from those societies (specifically Serbia and Croatia) take on and perform the role of nation-makers in public discourse. Using a discourse-analytical framework based on the concept of spokespersonship (Pels, 2000), I analyse opinion pieces and interviews by Serbian and Croatian authors published in the aftermath of recent key ‘national’ events. The analysis focuses on discursive strategies of intellectual self-legitimation and spokespersonship for the nation.