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

2015

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Previous research on victimhood during and after the Bosnian war has emphasized the importance of narratives but has not focused on narratives about victimhood or analyzed post-war interviews as a competition for victimhood. This article tries to fill this gap using stories told by survivors of the Bosnian war during the 1990s. In this analysis of the retold experiences of 27 survivors of the war in northwestern Bosnia, the aim is to describe the informants' portrayal of "victimhood" as a social phenomenon as well as analyzing the discursive patterns that contribute to constructing the category "victim". When, after the war, different categories claim a "victim" status, it sparks a competition for victimhood. All informants are eager to present themselves as victims while at the same time the other categories' victim status are downplayed. In this reproduction of competition for the victim role, all demarcations that were played out so successfully during the war live on.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Constructing “Ideal Victim” Stories of Bosnian War Survivors

2015

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“…Upplösning av rådande normer i ett samhälle i samband med krig, ockupation, anarki och maktövertagande av kriminella krafter raderar gamla normer men upprättar också nya normer, som i sin tur snabbt kan modifieras eller raderas (Basic 2016). Det samhällstillståndet benämns av Émile Durkheim (1897Durkheim ( /1979Durkheim ( , 1893Durkheim ( /2013) som anomi och kan förstås som en samhällskärna, ett slags "pulserande moralisk destruktivitet" 2 som ingen riktigt This article is downloaded from www.idunn.no.…”

Section: Normupplösning Och Moralisk Panikunclassified

Konstruktion av normupplösning och moraliskpanik

Nordisk politiforskning

2018

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The aim of the study is to analyze how intelligence and operative personnel in the Baltic Sea area describe the category "Russian criminals" and which discursive patterns cooperate with the construction of the category "norm-resolving Russian. " The analytical findings of a study are presented in the following themes: (1) Construction of norm resolution and moral panics: example criminal, (2) Construction of norm resolution and moral panics: example spy and (3) Construction of norm resolution and moral panics: example military invasion. The presentation of intelligence and operational police and border guard work as having varying morals and strengthening the argument for the need to fight against the other ("Russian") can be interpreted in different ways. One interpretation is that constructed fear for the norm-resolving Russian and reproduced moralic panic is the expression of a social identity, and it is based on a contrast in relation to the "other". By building up ideas about "enemies", moral panic is created and recreated, as well as the professional police and border guard professional identities. In addition, it shows in the analysis of the study the image of Russians pointed out by police and border guards in the Baltic region.

“…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 3,000 (including more than 200 women and 100 children), and more than 40,000 Bosniacs and Croats, almost half of the prewar population in Prijedor, were driven into exile (Basic 2016; Cekic 2009; IPC Patria 2000; Tabeau 2009; Tokaca 2013; Wesselingh and Vaulering 2005; Zwierzchowski and Tabeau 2010). The common denominator was that warfare was directed against civilian populations, namely, groups of people with other ethnic identities; the aim was to make life impossible for Bosniacs and Croats.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Concentration Camp Rituals

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...