Challenging the representation of ethnically divided cities: perspectives from Mostar

Carabelli, Giulia; Djurasovic, Aleksandra; Summa, Renata

doi:10.1080/13562576.2019.1634467

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Nevertheless, emphasizingalso in scholarly workwhat works and what has worked in the past is likely to have a positive and trust-building effect (Dembinska, 2010). The aim of the present special issue as formulated by the editors is exactly this: to 'encourage conversations among scholars of "divided cities" and to further this conversation by asking what would it change if we knew more about how these cities challenge (rather than reinforce) their ethnic divisions' (Carabelli et al, 2019). This change of scholarly focus is likely not only to affect academic debates but also to help build confidence and trust in said cities.…”

Section: Places Of Alternative Remembrancementioning

confidence: 97%

“…Discursive strategies, as I understand them, are employed by those who claim to represent the nation in order to narrate independent, coherent national histories, to legitimize and objectify them. A tactic, in de Certeau's sense, is utilized by individuals to create space for themselves in a field of power (de Certeau, 1980). Let me briefly exemplify this in the process of renaming the cityscape in Mostar.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Why alternative memory and place-making practices in divided cities matter

Palmberger

2019

Space and Polity

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The clear aim of this special issue is to move beyond ethno-national divisions and to show how Mostarlike other 'divided' citiesis more than its conflict, nationalism and ultimately its division. However, this confronts us with a paradox: how do we push research beyond ethno-national divisions while simultaneously acknowledging that those same divisions are the starting point for the contributors' analysis? In this intervention piece I offer one possible way to address this paradox by focusing on practices of place-making and drawing on the repositioning of memories in the city. This allows me to elaborate on a specific focus offered by the papers in this special issue encountered in practices of place-making, sense-making and memory-making. By taking this angle I wish to explore the particularities of the Mostar case but at the same time to go beyond it and tackle issues that are likely to affect other cities sharing a similar fate. In order to do so, I will build on the articles' findings as well as on my own findings from my fieldwork in Mostar from 2005 until 2008, followed by several revisits. Memory, place-making and the specific role of nostalgiaMost scholarly and media discussions on memory in the Yugoslav successor states centre on what we may call 'public memory', as is actively propagated by politicians, historians and journalists, among others. However, this debate has offered little insight into the ways in which individualsin our case, Mostariansposition themselves relative to the past. Moreover, it too easily paints a picture of memory politics as a top-down process whereby citizens are depicted as empty containers that passively accept these politics wholesale.One central insight I gained during my fieldwork in Mostar was that Mostarians are not only exposed to changing political contexts but are also confronted with their personal past experiences; therefore their reconstructions of the past remain more flexible and situational than those of people professionally involved in writing official national histories. While the latter present a goal-oriented narrative, the reconstructions of the former can be better described as target-seeking (Palmberger, 2016

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Section: Places Of Alternative Remembrancementioning

confidence: 97%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Why alternative memory and place-making practices in divided cities matter

Palmberger

2019

Space and Polity

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“…engaging critically with critical urban theories and social movement studies, this article explores urban commons as spaces of resistance in divided societies, 21 discussing how they are conceived and the extent to which previous historical trajectories shape this notion. In so doing, it also discloses the importance of urban commons for trust reconstruction processes in a war-torn society and the potential of urban movements to advance a political project with the potential to trigger social change.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Mobilization for Spatial Justice in Divided Societies: Urban Commons, Trust Reconstruction, and Socialist Memory in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Milan

2021

East European Politics and Societies: and Cultures

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The article contributes to the urban studies literature and the study of social movements in divided societies by disclosing the distinctive features and mobilizing potential that the notion of urban commons retains in a war-torn society with a socialist legacy. Specifically, it investigates how urban space and urban commons are reclaimed in a post-conflict and post-socialist country such as Bosnia and Herzegovina. By using Sarajevo as a case study, the article explores several grassroots initiatives undertaken by local urban activists to reappropriate cultural buildings and public space in the city. The study discloses that in a post-conflict and post-socialist society urban commons can bear a unifying potential as acts of commoning favor trust reconstruction processes and strengthen community ties. While the erosion of social ties and the legacy of the war might not encourage mobilization for the commons, the reference to socialist-era practices and language can represent a vantage point to advocate in favor of collective governance. Throughout their actions, urban activists instrumentally referred to the historical experience of socialism to develop a discourse that resonates with the domestic cultural environment. The article points also to a generational difference amongst activists in their references to Yugoslav state socialism. While long-time activists strove to critically reappraise it, the younger ones born in the immediate post-war period appear to hold a more superficial and ambivalent historical knowledge of the socialist heritage, to which they had only partial access and no lived experience.

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Boundary Displacement and Displacement as Boundary (or a Saturday Afternoon in a Kafana)

Summa

2020

Everyday Boundaries, Borders and Post Conflict Societies

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Challenging the representation of ethnically divided cities: perspectives from Mostar

Cited by 10 publications

References 53 publications

Why alternative memory and place-making practices in divided cities matter

Why alternative memory and place-making practices in divided cities matter

The Mobilization for Spatial Justice in Divided Societies: Urban Commons, Trust Reconstruction, and Socialist Memory in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Boundary Displacement and Displacement as Boundary (or a Saturday Afternoon in a Kafana)

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