Constructing “Ideal Victim” Stories of Bosnian War Survivors

Basic, Goran

doi:10.17645/si.v3i4.249

Cited by 12 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…The stories reveal that firearms were seldom used; instead, the weapons were baseball bats or knives. These features can be compared to examples of violence in Rwanda, e.g., Hatzfeld (2005) and Lee (2009), where the violence was more similar (and even more The narratives in my empirical material seem to be influenced by (or coherent with) the rhetoric mediated in these fora (Basic 2015c). When informants emphasize extermination and the systematization of violence during the war, they produce and reproduce the image of a mutual struggle on a collective level.…”

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confidence: 77%

“…Earlier research concerning violence during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina has noted the importance of post-war stories (Basic 2016(Basic , 2015a(Basic , 2015b(Basic , 2015c(Basic , 2015d I will never forget when there were 15 Muslims lying on their bellies in the center while Serbs beat them and sang "who is saying, who is lying that Serbia is small." Such uniformed savages, damn it.…”

Section: War Violence and New Social Ordermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Earlier research on the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina recognized the importance of post-war narratives (Basic 2016(Basic , 2015a(Basic , 2015b(Basic , 2015c(Basic , 2015dBougarel, Helms and Duijzings 2007;Houge 2008;Maček 2009;Mannergren Selimovic 2010;Skjelsbaek 2007;Steflja 2010;Stover and Weinstein 2004). However, these analyses do not focus on narratives about the 20 "war violence" phenomenon itself.…”

Section: Definitions Of War Violencementioning

confidence: 99%

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Definitions of Violence: Narratives of Survivors From the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Basic

2016

J Interpers Violence

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Previous research on violence during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina has resulted in a one-sided presentation of the phenomenon "war violence." Researchers have emphasized the importance of narratives without focusing on narratives mentioning war violence, but they have not analyzed stories on war violence that were the product of interpersonal interaction and meaning-making activity. The aim of this article is to fill this knowledge gap by analyzing the narratives of survivors of the war in northwestern Bosnia in the 1990s. The focus lies on analyzing interviewees' description of war-time violence and also analyzing discursive patterns that contribute in constructing the phenomenon "war violence." My analysis shows that the individual's interpretation of the biographical consequences of war violence is intimately related to the interviewee's own war experiences. All interviewees described war violence as something morally reprehensible. These narratives recounting violent situations, from perpetrators of violence and those subjected to violence, not only exist as mental constructions but also live on even after the war; thus, they have real consequences for the individuals and society.

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confidence: 77%

Section: War Violence and New Social Ordermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Definitions Of War Violencementioning

confidence: 99%

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Definitions of Violence: Narratives of Survivors From the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Basic

2016

J Interpers Violence

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“…In this context, speaking about the challenges that victims–/survivors have overcome, how they deal with adversity or the goals that they might wish to achieve is politically far less expedient than reiterating how these women have suffered – and continue to suffer. As such, they serve as useful ‘victimization markers’ (Basic, 2015: 26).…”

Section: Living Vulnerabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Vulnerability, Space and Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: Building Spatial Resilience

Clark

2020

Sociology

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This article is about the relationship between vulnerability and space. It examines how vulnerability moves and shifts in relation to space – and more specifically particular types of spaces – and how space both generates vulnerability and affects the experiential ‘living’ of vulnerability. With a specific focus on conflict-related sexual violence, and drawing on empirical data from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Colombia and Uganda, the article situates and discusses the relationship between vulnerability and space within a broader transitional justice framework. Underlining the need for transitional justice processes to give more attention to spaces of vulnerability, it foregrounds the notion of ‘spatial resilience’ as providing a conceptual frame for an ecological remodelling of transitional justice.

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“…The camps in northwestern Bosnia stood out for individualized crimes in which the perpetrator often knew his victims (Basic 2015a, 2015b, 2015c, 2016). The tools used for killing were not only firearms but also knives, steel rods, electric cables, and batons.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Concentration Camp Rituals

Basic

2016

Humanity & Society

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In the German camps during the Second World War, the aim was to kill from a distance, and the camps were highly efficient in their operations. Previous studies have thus analyzed the industrialized killing and the victims' survival strategies. Researchers have emphasized the importance of narratives but they have not focused on narratives about camp rituals, or analyzed post-war interviews as a continued resistance and defense of one's self. This article tries to fill this gap by analyzing stories told by former detainees in concentration camps in the Bosnian war during the 1990s. The article aims to describe a set of recounted interaction rituals as well as to identify how these rituals are dramatized in interviews. The retold stories of humiliation and power in the camps indicate that there was little space for individuality and preservation of self.Nevertheless, the detainees seem to have been able to generate some room for resistance, and this seems to have granted them a sense of honor and self-esteem, not least after the war. Their narratives today represent a form of continued resistance.Keywords: humiliated self, status ritual, stigma, resistance, de-ritualization, power ritual 2 IntroductionIn the German camps during the Second World War, the aim was to kill from a distance, and the camps were highly efficient and industrialized in their operations (Bauman 1991; Langer 1991; Megargee 2013a,b). Previous studies have thus analyzed the efficient and industrialized killing of other people and survival strategies in concentration camps (Bauman 1991; Langer 1991 Langer , 1996 Luchterhand 1953; Megargee 2013a,b; Round 2006; Ryn 1990; Sunderland 2010; Stein 2009; van Ree 2013). Researchers have emphasized the importance of narratives but have not focused on narratives about rituals as a starting point. Neither have they analyzed post-war interviews as a continued resistance and defending of one's self. This article shows how interactions rituals in concentration camp are described by Bosnian interviewees and how post-war narratives are a form of continued resistance and defense of one's self. In this way the article contributes to a sociological, and criminological understanding of the phenomenon interaction rituals in the concentration camp.My analysis is based on interpersonal interpretations of violence during the 1990s war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In their quest for 'ethnic cleansing' of Bosniacs 1 and Croats from northwestern Bosnia, Serbian soldiers and policemen, among others, used concentration camps.The aim of the ethnic cleansing was to take control of the geographic area by expelling the Bosniac and Croat populations. In addition to concentration camps, the ethnic cleansing of northwestern Bosnia consisted of a range of other techniques, including mass murder, systematic rape, forced flight, and economic and legal discrimination. For example, in just the municipality of Prijedor in northwestern Bosnia, the number of Bosniacs and Croats killed during summer 1992 was more than 3000 (in...

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Constructing “Ideal Victim” Stories of Bosnian War Survivors

Cited by 12 publications

References 26 publications

Definitions of Violence: Narratives of Survivors From the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Definitions of Violence: Narratives of Survivors From the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Vulnerability, Space and Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: Building Spatial Resilience

Concentration Camp Rituals

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