Suchergebnisse

The rich socio-cultural history of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a single territorial, political, state and legal and administrative rounded whole, can be seen in several separated simultaneous fl ows arising as a result of the deep-rooted ethno-confessional division of this area, where religion, as the dominant integrating cultural factor, also represented the main distinctive element of the national identity of the three Bosnian constituent peoples, which the unaltered state agrees with to this day. As a unique area with religions at the border, and denominational boundaries at the edges of Catholicism and Orthodoxy among which Islam is wedged between, Bosnia and Herzegovina represents a unique civilizational bridge between East and West, where the followers of these religions see as their guardians, highlighting specifi c religious, cultural and national characteristics which establishes the opposition to the "other" and "diff erent" with which for centuries has coexisted. The most prominent features of identity and otherness which exist in symbiosis are articulated precisely on the borders as places of their meetings, which in turn have never been so impervious to keep the integration of diff erent ethnic and religious traditions followers, leading to ghettoisation and creating worlds closed for themselves, and long-term coexistence of diff erent and often confl icting civilizational-religious system characterized by a certain closeness of high culture of individual entities and openness, and mutual intertwining of which was out of the realm of popular culture.

This article discusses the historical changes in religious practices in Bosnia-Herzegovina from the communist era to the post-war period in line with their influence on identity and intergroup (inter-ethnic, inter-religious) relations. There is a lack of evidence on whether people did not overtly express their religious beliefs during communism even though they were covertly religious, or whether they started engaging in the religious practice during and after the 1992-1995 war in order to establish group connectedness, cohesion, and fulfill certain needs. "Bosnian identity" will be described as a puzzle formed by the "remains" of the previous regime and the "new additions" of the post-war period. The discourse of power dominates in Bosnia-Herzegovina and enables prohibitions of different types of dialogue that can lead to better understanding of differences and Other(s). The main problem that will be addressed in this article is the (non)existing Bosnian identity analyzed through "jouissance" of nationalism, intolerance and religion. The contradictions of Sigmund Freud's concept of identification, and the relation of that concept to the body and power in a post-war divided society will be discussed. We can conclude that the main discourse of power operates with religion in order to establish the "jigsaw puzzle of Bosnian identity". The presence of those who either live in a different system (yugonostalgic people, Homo Yugoslavicus), or those who do not believe (atheists) simply adds a new dimension to the currently established system which can be used to further explain if the overtly expressed beliefs will remain unchanged in case of the establishment of a new system.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Foreword -- Preface -- A Note on Language and Pronunciation -- Introduction -- One History, Identity, and the Yugoslav Dream -- Two A Bosnian Village -- Three Men, Women, and the House -- Four Marriage and Marriage Procedures -- Five Caring for the Living and the Souls of the Dead -- Six Debating Islam and Muslim Identity -- Notes -- Glossary of Bosnian Terms -- Bibliography -- Index

First Nationalism Then Identity focuses on the case of Bosnian Muslims, a rare historic instance of a new nation emerging. Although for Bosnian Muslims the process of national emergence and the assertion of a new salient identity have been going on for over two decades, Mirsad Kriještorac is the first to explain the significance of the whole process and how the adoption of their new Bosniak identity occurred. He provides a historical overview of Yugoslav and Bosnian Slavic Muslims' transformation into a full-fledged distinct and independent national group as well as addresses the important question in the field of nationalism studies about the relationship between and workings of nationalism and identity. While this book is noteworthy for ordinary readers interested in the case of Bosnian Muslims, it is an important contribution to the scholarly debate on the role of nationalism in the political life of a group and adds an interdisciplinary perspective to comparative politics scholarship by drawing from anthropology, history, geography, and sociology.

Nationalism, Nation, Maybe State...and Identity : Theorizing Nationalism and Its Relation to a Group's Salient Identity -- A Short History of Bosnian Muslim Groupness -- The Three Pillars of Bosnian Muslim Nationalism -- The Bosnian Muslim Diaspora Sample -- Analysis of U.S. Bosnian Muslim Diaspora Survey Data : Frequencies and Distributions -- Results of the Test of Interactions between Nationalism and Desired Salient Identity -- Lessons for a Better Understanding of Nationalism and the Importance of Bosniak Identity.

The Jewish cultural tradition, which within the framework of the Bosnian habitus went through stages - from assimilation, concretization, activation, and even fusion - represents a paradigm of intracultural processes in the complex Bosnian society. These processes take place through various interactions, which have not been bypassed by local literature, and are representative of one part of the literary oeuvre of Isak Samokovlija. Based on the theoretical starting points of intercultural interpretation and psychoanalysis, the work questions Samokovlija's short stories in which the characters act through the suppressed own versus the foreign. This is especially expressed in the stories "Od proljeća do proljeća" (From Spring to Spring) and "Plava Jevrejka" (The Blue Jewess).

In 1990, the main Bosnian Muslim political party, the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), has been created by representatives of a pan-Islamist current. The rise to power of the SDA in the Muslim part of Bosnia-Herzegovina has led to a tightening of the links between Islam and the Muslim/Bosniak national identity, and to the instrumentalization of Islam for ideological purposes. However, the strategy of the SDA has always been full of contradictions and, with the end of the war, is facing new challenges. ; En 1990, le principal parti musulman bosnien, le Parti de l'action démocratique (SDA), a été créé par les représentants d'un courant pan-islamiste. L'accession au pouvoir du SDA dans la partie musulmane de la Bosnie-Herzégovine a conduit a un resserrement des liens entre Islam et identité nationale musulmane/bosniaque, et à une instrumentalisation de l'islam à des fins idéologiques. Toutefois, la stratégie du SDA a toujours été caractérisée par d'importantes contradictions et, avec la fin de guerre, est confrontée à de nouveaux défis .

In 1990, the main Bosnian Muslim political party, the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), has been created by representatives of a pan-Islamist current. The rise to power of the SDA in the Muslim part of Bosnia-Herzegovina has led to a tightening of the links between Islam and the Muslim/Bosniak national identity, and to the instrumentalization of Islam for ideological purposes. However, the strategy of the SDA has always been full of contradictions and, with the end of the war, is facing new challenges. ; En 1990, le principal parti musulman bosnien, le Parti de l'action démocratique (SDA), a été créé par les représentants d'un courant pan-islamiste. L'accession au pouvoir du SDA dans la partie musulmane de la Bosnie-Herzégovine a conduit a un resserrement des liens entre Islam et identité nationale musulmane/bosniaque, et à une instrumentalisation de l'islam à des fins idéologiques. Toutefois, la stratégie du SDA a toujours été caractérisée par d'importantes contradictions et, avec la fin de guerre, est confrontée à de nouveaux défis .

The current article explores how political changes in the past 130 years have shaped and reshaped three major museums in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The overall aim is to describe structural processes of national museum building in BiH and the ways the museological representation of history is connected to state and nation making and to political transitions and crises. The analysed museums are the National Museum of BiH, the History Museum of BiH, and the Museum of the Republic of Srpska. The source material analysed consists of the directories and the titles of exhibitions; secondary material, which describes previous exhibitions; and virtual museum tours. The article illustrates that during the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, which established the National Museum in 1888, the museum played an important part in the representation of Bosnian identity (bosnjastvo). After World War II, in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, all three analysed museums were summoned to interpret the past in accordance with the guidelines of the communist regime. Since the 1990s, a highly ethnicized process of identity building and of the musealization of heritage, and history permeates all three museums analysed here. When it comes to the central exhibition-themes following the 1990s war, one could conclude that whereas the National Museum and the History Museum highlight the recent creation of an independent BiH and ostracize BIH-Serbs, the Museum of the Republic of Srpska asserts the ostensible distinctiveness of the Republic of Srpska and excludes the narratives about BiH as a unified and independent nation-state. If an agreement about the future of BiH and its history is to be reached, a step towards multi-vocal historical narratives has to be made from both sides. ; Eunamus