The first thing that came to my mind when visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina was, I have to tell Ena. Ena was a close friend from high school whose parents were both born in the former Yugoslavia and were from Sarajevo. Upon hearing that I was traveling to Bosnia she was very impressed and told me how proud her parents were. She shared that her parents were honored that people are taking an interest in their history and their city. Ena continued to share that the assumptions and stereotypes about Bosnians and Balkan people as a whole really frustrated her and she was happy to hear that I was going to learn a more complete and accurate portrayal of the people, culture and city. As I traveled through Bosnia, both in Mostar and Sarajevo, I kept in mind Ena and her parents’ remarks as a reminder to listen and learn and be open to hearing a wide range of stories and perspectives. In addition to my conversation with Ena, I was already aware of some of the history in Bosnia and Herzegovina since I had studied one part of their tri-pate government, the Republika Srpska (the Serbian region/government within Bosnia). With both the conversation with Ena and the research I had done I was curious to see what Bosnia would have in store for me and what new perspectives would be revealed.
As someone interested in ethnic conflicts and conflict resolution, in part due to having family who lives in a region of conflict (and occupation), I was curious to learn more about the history of conflict within the region and listen to people’s perspectives post war and peace agreements. Most of the formal perspectives and narratives I heard came from lectures and guest speakers that were chosen by Mihaela but I also heard a fair amount of informal perspectives, coming from shop owners, people on the street and interactions in other casual settings.
One guest speaker shared that since the war and conflict had officially ended it was time to deal with the reality at hand rather than focus on the past hardship. A women at a shop shared that she was frustrated that people were still denying the fact that there was a genocide. Some people I talked to simply said it was a messy conflict and left it at that. The shopkeeper at a store selling local art shared that there was a rise in xenophobia but claimed it was because there were “some bad apples”. Some of the guest speakers we heard told us that they wanted to be recognized as Yugoslavians rather than any specific ethnicity. A few of the speakers talked about the rise in religious extremism which was making it more difficult to work with one another as well as the over-victimization post war that was being used for political gains. Other people I talked to worried that they were noticing less and less people willing to talk about the war and this made it more difficult to deal with the aftermath and the current tensions in the country.
While these were just a handful of narratives that I heard, I began to better understand the wide range of opinions that were held. As I gained more perspectives things only became more complicated but out of this confusion came the important realization that there needs to be multiple perspectives that must be in continuous dialogue with one another in order to avoid creating a hegemonic narrative that silences any discourse. So although I might have felt lost and confused by the various narratives I realized that this was not actually a bad thing. By allowing myself to be overwhelmed I was reminded that it is impossible for there to be one dominant discourse since this would completely erase the multiple perspectives and sides to the conflict. As I reflect on my experiences and conversations in Bosnia I will continue to consider the multiple perspectives that all come together to form a more meaningful understanding of the country and its recent history.