Ethnoterritorial Divisions and Urban Geopolitics in Post-Yugoslav Mostar

Mihaylov, Valentin

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-61765-3_6

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Notably both the LGBT activists and their opposition recognized benefits to organizing citizens from all ethnic backgrounds. Likewise, Mihaylov (2020) notes increasing international leverage on leaders of ethnic groups to dialogue and cooperate.…”

Section: The Construction Of Identity In Bosnia and Herzegovinamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pobric and Robinson (2019) focus upon the relative power of government and business compared to social groups in making decisions about reconstruction. Comparable research exists for Mostar (Carabelli, 2018;Mihaylov, 2020;Wollentz 2017Wollentz , 2019.…”

Section: The Construction Of Spacementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other researchers also have studied the controversies regarding the design of public spaces, and the potential for design to facilitate healing (Kappler, 2017;Morrison, 2016;Pobric and Robinson 2019;Wollentz 2017Wollentz , 2019. Within liminal regions where conflict transformation has stalled, the power of the design process and outcome offers the potential for representatives of hostile community groups to overcome misconceptions and perhaps find common cause (Carabelli, 2018;Mihaylov, 2020).…”

Section: The Construction Of Spacementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, a shift away from the political solution of power-sharing, which presupposes the intractability of ethnic division, intends not merely to underscore the non-democratic state structures which reinforce prevailing differences, but also to focus upon the agency of design in conflict transformation. When heterarchy rather than hierarchy characterizes the construction of public spaces, the community is engaged in the process of the development, creating an initial forum for active citizenship and group interaction despite their differences (Carabelli 2018;Mihaylov, 2020;Pobric & Robinson, 2019;Wollentz, 2017). Such a process might lead to shared purpose, and even shared identities.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Public Spaces and Conflict Transformation: From Mostar’s Old Bridge to Its United World College

Davison

Tešan

2021

J Ethn Cult Stud

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The purpose of this analysis is to offer a complementary approach to top-down ethnic conflict resolution which depends upon international organizations, peace treaties, laws, and political elites. While legal and institutional approaches can possess merit, they neglect the necessity of engaging people and rebuilding community. Further, citizens can perceive a top-down approach as coercive. This paper focuses upon an alternative approach of transformation through the construction of post-war public spaces which create places for interaction and sociability, and thereby possess healing power. We adopt the philosophy of architect Lebbeus Woods, who offered specific principles for the post-war reconstruction of Sarajevo. These guidelines included an acknowledgement of the damage and destruction, but also the necessity of community participation in rebuilding. We also accept the contentions of Keller Easterling who identified the potential coerciveness of ‘extrastatecraft’, that is structures imposed upon a community from above by the state, or from outside by international organizations. The specific focus of this research is upon Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the work of international organizations and national political leaders ended the military conflict in 1995, but still fails to reconcile the three ethnic groups to a shared future. The method is rooted in comparative political anthropology, which entails an evaluation of processes, agency, and structures, as well as an account for the emotional aspects of identity and politics. Interviews regarding conflict and reconstruction, and ethnographic observations of public spaces are employed. The work concludes that the contributions of the United World College – Mostar contrasts to the relative failure of the reconstruction of the Old Mostar Bridge partially are due to the emphasis of the former on community engagement and inclusion. The results admit the difficulty of post-conflict transformation in ethnically divided systems, but contend that both the process and outcome of community engagement in the reconstruction of public spaces facilitates reconciliation and democratization.

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Section: The Construction Of Identity In Bosnia and Herzegovinamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Construction Of Spacementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Construction Of Spacementioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Public Spaces and Conflict Transformation: From Mostar’s Old Bridge to Its United World College

Davison

Tešan

2021

J Ethn Cult Stud

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From geopolitical fault-line to frontline city: changing attitudes to memory politics in Kharkiv under the Russo-Ukrainian war

Gnatiuk,

Homanyuk

2023

HunGeoBull

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The article investigates changing attitudes to memory politics in Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. In February 2022, with the outbreak of the full-scale Russo-Ukrainian war, this geopolitical fault-line city became a frontline city with significant potential outcomes for urban identity and local geopolitical preferences, including attitudes to the national memory politics. The research is based on the comparative analysis of the two surveys among residents of Kharkiv, conducted in spring-summer 2018 and in autumn 2022 – before and after the full-scale war. The results of the surveys are analysed by means of descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression. Additionally, two focus groups were held in order to receive additional justification when interpreting the results of the survey. The research shows that the attitudes to Ukrainian nation-centric memory narrative, including both decommunisation and decolonisation, have significantly improved. Nevertheless, public attitudes to the memory politics in the frontline city are highly reflexive in nature and deeply embedded in the context of the ongoing war. The geopolitical divide, which existed before the war, has largely transformed into a cultural one, namely heterogeneity of attitudes to the Russian cultural heritage in the city. This softened albeit still existing divide has, to some extent, materialised in physical space and runs between the ardent supporters of decommunisation and decolonisation that massively fled from the atrocities of the war and their opponents who at most choose (or were obliged) to stay in the front-line city. The study reveals that military conflicts may either activate hidden geopolitical divides in geopolitical fault-line cities or contribute to their transformation or even disappearance.

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Ethnoterritorial Divisions and Urban Geopolitics in Post-Yugoslav Mostar

Cited by 2 publications

References 23 publications

Public Spaces and Conflict Transformation: From Mostar’s Old Bridge to Its United World College

Public Spaces and Conflict Transformation: From Mostar’s Old Bridge to Its United World College

From geopolitical fault-line to frontline city: changing attitudes to memory politics in Kharkiv under the Russo-Ukrainian war

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