Longing for Lost Normalcy: Social Memory, Transitional Justice, and the ‘House Museum’ to Missing Persons in Kosovo

Abstract

In spring 1999, amidst a wider ethnic cleansing campaign, Serb police forces abducted Ferdonije Qerkezi’s husband and four sons, who were never to be seen alive again. She subsequently transformed her private house into a memorial to the lost normalcy of her entire social world. We trace this memorialization process; her struggle for recognition; her transformation into an iconic mother of the nation and her activism, both for missing persons and against the internationally-driven Serb-Albanian normalization process in Kosovo. From a multi-disciplinary perspective, we critically reflect on the theoretical concept of “normative divergence” in intervention studies. We are guided by social anthropological (including immersive, historical-ethnographic, and semantic) analysis of the core tropes of social memory as both narratively and materially embodied by the House Museum. In systematically juxtaposing these to the normative transitional justice principles of truth, justice, non-recurrence, and reparations, and the overarching international intervention goal of reconciliation, we critically interrogate normative divergence per se. The ethnographic “thick description” of this case study—cognizant of context contingency, victims’ agency and experience, cultural change, and social transformation—points to divergent meanings of these principles as resulting directly from the political and institutional failure to provide key transitional justice goals.

Transitional Justice and Reconciliation in the Western Balkans: Approaches, Impacts and Challenges

“…Other Bosnian NGOs also complained that their voices were not being heard (Touquet & Vermeersch, 2016). Relaunched in 2017, Western Balkan leaders are expected to sign a draft collaboration agreement, which would formalize RECOM (Schwandner-Sievers & Klinkner, 2019).…”

“…The Kosovo Memory Book, produced by Humanitarian Law Centres in Kosovo and Serbia and validated by RECOM, lists killed, missing, and disappeared persons of all ethnic groups from 1998-2000(Schwandner-Sievers & Klinkner, 2019Di Lellio & McCurn, 2013). The six-volume 'monument', edited in Albanian, Serbian, and English, offers an extensive database, including names of victims, location, and circumstances of their death or disappearance (Baliqi, 2017;Di Lellio & McCurn, 2013).…”

Epistemic justice and everyday nationalism: An auto‐ethnography of transnational student encounters in a post‐war memory and reconciliation project in Kosovo

“…This museum, its material exhibits, and Ferdonije's narrative, which she shared with the entire group of students, were dedicated to the cruel abduction of her husband and four sons at the height of the war in 1999. Her story tells of the irrecuperable loss of everyday, social normalcy (Schwandner‐Sievers & Klinkner, ), which lends irrefutable legitimacy to her message “never to trust the Serbs (shkijet) again” (using a derogatory Albanian ethnonym for “Serbs”). Most generally, the museum signifies Kosovo's incomplete transitional justice process with particular disregard to the fate of missing persons and their surviving family members in Kosovo.…”

Staging and Performing Tradition in Kosova Restaurants

“…Recently, the focus has shifted and, employing a bottom-up approach, is becoming more anthropological. The focus today is on commonalities and concentrates on eliciting the meaning of social relations as practiced in the context of daily life and identity negotiation (Krasniqi 2014;Luci 2014;Canolli 2017;Latifi 2018;Schwandner-Sievers and Klinkner 2019). Although food is not a common subject of research, there are several studies highlighting the importance of examining food culture in Kosova as another way to discuss social relationships and objectifications of identity building in the everyday context (Kadriu 2009;Canolli 2017;.…”