edited by Xavier Bougarel, Elissa Helms and Ger Duijzings (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2007).
The authors of this book argue that, while the realities of post-war Bosnia are indeed strongly influenced by the Dayton agreement and the way it has been implemented, they can in no way be reduced to it. This book is unique in offering a re-examination of the Bosnian case with an approach ‘from below’. It gathers together cultural anthropologists and other social scientists, some of whom began doing fieldwork in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the late 1980s or during the war.
The authors consider the specificities of the Bosnian case, discussing the difficulties of the peace process, especially in the crucial period between 1999 and 2003, marked by the acceleration of the return process and the rise to power of the Alliance for Change. However, the book also raises broader questions : What are the consequences of internecine violence and how should societies attempt to overcome them ? Are the uncertainties and the transformations of Bosnian post-war society entirely due to the war, or are they related to wider processes encompassing post-communist Europe as a whole ? And to what extent are the difficulties experienced by international state-building operations mainly due to distinctive features of the local societies rather than to the policies promoted by the international community itself ?
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction (Xavier Bougarel, Elissa Helms, Ger Duijzings)
Part One - Beyond ‘Ethnicity’
Chapter 1 - ‘Imitation of Life’ : Negotiating Normality in Sarajevo under Siege (Ivana Macek)
Chapter 2 - Urban Exile : Locals, Newcomers and the Cultural Transformation of Sarajevo (Anders Stefansson)
Chapter 3 - Sarajevo No More ? Identity and the Sense of Place among Bosnian Serb Sarajevans in Republika Srpska (Ioannis Armakolas)
Chapter 4 - The Power of ‘Armchair Politicians’ : Ethnic Loyalty and Political Factionalism among Herzegovinian Croats (Hannes Grandits)
Chapter 5 - In Search of ‘Decent People’ : Resistance to the Ethnicization of Everyday Life among the Muslims of Stolac (Torsten Kolind)
Part Two - Beyond ‘Ancient Hatred’
Chapter 6 - Commemorating Srebrenica : Histories of Violence and the Politics of Memory in Eastern Bosnia (Ger Duijzings)
Chapter 7 - Death and the Nationalist : Martyrdom, War Memory and Veteran Identity among Bosnian Muslims (Xavier Bougarel)
Chapter 8 - Remembering with a Difference : Clashing Memories of Bosnian Conflict in Everyday Life (Stef Jansen)
Part Three - Beyond ‘Protectorate’
Chapter 9 - In the Midst of Injustice : the ICTY from the Perspective of some Victim Associations (Isabelle Delpla)
Chapter 10 - ‘Politics is a Whore’ : Women, Morality and Victimhood in Post-War Bosnia-Herzegovina
Chapter 11 - Ambivalent Builders : Europeanization, the Production of Difference and Internationals in Bosnia-Herzegovina (Kimberley Coles)
Chapter 12 - Everyday Work : Subsistence Economy, Social Belonging and Moralities of Exchange at a Bosnian (Black) Market (Larisa Jasarevic)
REVIEWS
« The New Bosnian Mosaic offers a penetrating anthropological gaze at the complex world of Bosnia today. The book both broadens and deepens our knowledge of the lived experience of war and reconstruction. A very successful integration of large historical questions and ethnographic realities, a rich source and an important contribution. »
(Professor David A. Kideckel, Central Connecticut State University, USA)
« The editors have assembled empirically rich and intellectually stimulating explorations of the inner complexity of post-war Bosnian societies. With their emphasis on local views and practices in a context of competitive war-related claims and intrusive international agency, these anthropological and ethnographic perspectives open new visas on post-conflict transitions. »
(Professor Michael Pugh, University of Bradford, UK)
The editors :
Xavier Bougarel (CNRS, Paris, xbougarel@yahoo.fr)
Elissa Helms (CEU, Budapest, helmse@ceu.hu)
Ger Duijzings (SSEES, London, g.duijzings@ssees.ucl.ac.uk)
