In this article I put forward the concept of subversive infantilisation to designate a phenomenon in contemporary Bosnian literature, which by using a certain kind of childish outlook on the world undermines paternalistic and balkanist Western discourse on Bosnia and Herzegovina. By analysing primarily the portrayal of the role of mass media in a few literary texts, principally books by Nenad Veličković and Miljenko Jergović, I highlight the way in which these texts "re-rig" and by means of irony and exaggeration illuminate the problematic logic inherent in the subject position from which one represents the other. Textual characteristics of subversive infantilisation are contextualised further and seen as a discursive continuation of experiences of the 1990s war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Tidsskriftet SANG er et forum for kritisk refleksion over sang som udtryksform. Vi bringer både forskning i og formidling om alle typer af sang fra alle faglige vinkler.SANG modtager mange typer indlaeg, f.eks. artikler, anmeld elser, interviews og kommentarer. For vejledning se: https://www.tidsskriftetsang.dk/manuskript. Tidsskriftet støttes af Statens Kunstfond.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, memories of the 1990s war remain hugely divided on political and institutional levels, constituting what we may think of as a mnemonic war. Interview-based qualitative research shows that people in Bosnia on the individual level tend to follow the dominant narrative of their own group, yet, when challenged on these viewpoints, may also admit that other narratives and different truths may exist. Indeed, this research seems to propose the existence of a memorial grey zone where more open understanding and recognition of other positions is possible. Thus, while memory politics and memory institutionalization are rigidly opposed, other types of memory mediation may challenge the ethnic divisions of the memory landscape, opening up a memorial grey zone. In this article, we study the individual reception of literary works written by Bosnian émigré writers, asking how readers interact with established yet fluid memory discourses in Bosnia. Using focus groups as an interviewing method, we explore how the texts are perceived and discussed by lay readers in the two political entities, the Bosniak–Croat Federation and Republika Srpska. We are particularly interested in how readers make sense of the memory accounts in the texts, and how this relates to personal experiences and official memory narratives within each of the two entities. We argue that the reading and discussions of literary war memories allow for complex negotiations between personal and official ‘group’ narratives, opening a memorial grey zone that transcends the sharp divisions dominating memory politics in Bosnia and creates space for alternative memory positions.
The immigration of Bosnians to the Scandinavian countries in connection to the war in the 1990s is largely seen as a success. Aspects such as high employment and education levels has been foregrounded as indicating integration and personal accomplishment, especially among the younger population. However, the literature produced by Bosnian immigrant authors tells a different story, which focuses rather on personal hardships and obstacles in the affective and social “positionality” of the immigrant in the Scandinavian topography. Regarding texts by authors such as Alen Mešković, Bekim Sejranović, and Adnan Mahmutović, the article surveys recurrent themes associated with the immigrant’s inability to create belonging in the host country, such as the encounter with immigrant authorities or the continuous non-contact with Scandinavians. While the texts are not typical examples of literary “welfare criticism”, the article tries to suggest some ways in which these texts produce critique of mechanisms in the Scandinavian welfare state model.
This article investigates how literary works of fiction depicting wartime memories from Bosnia were received by groups of lay readers in Copenhagen, Manchester and Berlin. We introduce the concept of mnemonic migration to include both the narrative strategies employed by migrant authors in order to represent such memories in new mnemonic contexts, and the reception of this type of literature in different social and cultural settings. By investigating readers’ reactions to literature by migrants who write about topics related to own or fictional experiences in wartime Bosnia, we explore literature as a medium that makes memories travel and has the potential to create prosthetic memories. Studying what happens in the encounter between the texts and recipients within the following three national communities of remembrance – Denmark, Germany and England – we ask if the texts are capable of representing Bosnian wartime memories in an emotionally appealing manner that urges the reader to incorporate them into their own stock of memories. Based on focus group interviews in the three cities, we argue that the agency of literature in transmitting memories into new frameworks is limited but definitely present. We found that the literary style of memory mediations was an important factor and many readers preferred texts with more clarity and factuality. Nevertheless, in spite of the frustration experienced by a significant group, most readers felt emotionally engaged by at least parts of the texts. We observed that there were considerable differences in how readers in the three social settings related to the events. However, in all three countries, differences between generational groups most obviously affected the readings. Often, the books made readers aware of the limited role of the Bosnian War in their respective public frameworks of memory and created a wish for a more thorough commemoration of that event.
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