“But my memory betrays me”: National Master Narratives and the Ambiguities of History in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Hajdarpašić, Edin

doi:10.5771/9783845225555-201

Cited by 4 publications

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“…Whereas these rival memory narratives certainly serve to underpin political divisions in BiH, people's engagement with memory on private and local levels is more complex and may not mirror the politically framed memory war. Hajdarpašić (2010) reminds us of the diversification of memory through diaspora networks and new media, and the existence both in political and individual discourse of an alternative memory narrative foregrounding the socialist past. Indeed, BiH's main museums, which would supposedly mirror dominant memory discourses in the country, have continued to promote the legacy of socialist Yugoslavia and a Yugoslav culture of memory (von Puttkamer, 2016), which emphasizes the existence of more diverse memory patterns.…”

Section: The Memory Conflict In Bosnian Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Memory conflicts and memory grey zones: War memory in Bosnia–Herzegovina between public memory disputes, literary narratives and personal experience

Andersen

Borčak

2022

Memory Studies

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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.

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Section: The Memory Conflict In Bosnian Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Memory conflicts and memory grey zones: War memory in Bosnia–Herzegovina between public memory disputes, literary narratives and personal experience

Andersen

Borčak

2022

Memory Studies

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“…The article builds on several significant publications on general memory trends in post-war Bosnia (e.g. Hajdarpašić, 2010;Moll, 2013;Palmberger, 2006;Rekść, 2011;Sokol, 2014) as well as on memory politics in relation to Srebrenica (Bougarel, 2007(Bougarel, , 2012Duijzings, 2007;Pollack, 2010), but it takes a slightly different direction. Namely, instead of entering a separate strand of law-oriented research regarding ICTY (see Kostić, 2012;Nettefeld & Wagner, 2013;Subotić, 2010), or focusing on static products of state policy, such as school textbooks (Bartulović, 2008;Torsti, 2007), or offering a deeper yet fragmented view of political processes (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Persistence of National Victimhood: Bosniak Post-War Memory Politics of the Srebrenica Mass Killings

Rawski

2021

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The Persistence of National Victimhood: Bosniak Post-War Memory Politics of the Srebrenica Mass KillingsThis article reveals the origins of the radicalisation of memory politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the year 2010. It shows that the radicalisation in the public sphere of Bosnia and Herzegovina was eventually possible due to the long-term persistence of the nationalist commemorative strategy, rooted in the dialectic mechanism of consolidating and antagonising relevant reference groups, and responsible for structuring the national memories of the last war according to an exclusivist martyrological model. Based on the example of Bosniak post-war memory politics regarding the Srebrenica mass killings, the study describes a more universal political mechanism, one characteristic also of the post-war Bosnian Serb and Bosnian Croat nationalist factions. Trwałość martyrologii narodowej. Boszniacka powojenna polityka pamięci o masowych morderstwach w SrebrenicyArtykuł odsłania źródła radykalizacji polityki pamięci w Bośni i Hercegowinie po 2010 roku. Pokazuje, że radykalizacja ta była możliwa dzięki długotrwałemu utrzymywaniu się w sferze publicznej Bośni i Hercegowiny nacjonalistycznej strategii komemoratywnej, która była odpowiedzialna za strukturyzację narodowej pamięci o ostatniej wojnie według ekskluzywistycznego modelu martyrologicznego oraz zakorzeniona w dialektycznym mechanizmie konsolidacji i antagonizowania odpowiednich grup odniesienia. Na przykładzie powojennej boszniackiej polityki pamięci dotyczącej masowych morderstw w Srebrenicy opisany został bardziej uniwersalny mechanizm polityczny, charakterystyczny także dla powojennych polityk pamięci prowadzonych przez nacjonalistyczne elity bośniackich Serbów i bośniackich Chorwatów.

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Imagining the Bosnian Serb Ethnic Identity: Historical Analysis

Kočan

2023

Central and Eastern European Perspectives on International Relations

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“But my memory betrays me”: National Master Narratives and the Ambiguities of History in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Memory conflicts and memory grey zones: War memory in Bosnia–Herzegovina between public memory disputes, literary narratives and personal experience

Memory conflicts and memory grey zones: War memory in Bosnia–Herzegovina between public memory disputes, literary narratives and personal experience

The Persistence of National Victimhood: Bosniak Post-War Memory Politics of the Srebrenica Mass Killings

Imagining the Bosnian Serb Ethnic Identity: Historical Analysis

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