Ethnic Cleansing in Republika Srpska
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London School of Economics and Political Science Sara Maria de Morais Bettencourt da Câmara Correia REMEMBERING ETHNIC CLEANSING IN REPUBLIKA SRPSKA An Ethnography of Memory in the City of Bijeljina A thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Government London School of Economics September 2018 1 Abstract This thesis provides a case-study of the relationship between public memory and lived experience in the process of transformation of national identity in the aftermath of 'ethnic cleansing'. Once a multiethnic town with a Muslim majority, since the 1992-1995 Bosnian war the town of Bijeljina has been subjected to dynamics that resulted in the imposition of a narrow interpretation of Serb national identity in the public space. In this liminal process, Bijeljina has been transformed into a 'Serb' town, where Muslims are now tolerated but marginalised. 'Ethnic cleansing', the ultimate liminal experience, was central to the transformation of Bijeljina, and it figures prominently in the recollections of the local population, but is virtually absent from official memory, which is submitted to the demands of the nationalist agenda of the local authorities. An ethnographic approach allowed me to go beyond public representations, to explore private aspects of social memory and how these interact with official memory, as people try to find meaning for their wartime experience. I combined my observation of everyday life through immersion in the community during one year of fieldwork with in-depth interviews focusing on the respondents' recollections of life before the war, their wartime experience, how they reorganised their lives once the war was over, how they see the present and imagine a future for themselves and their families. The thesis argues for a more subtle understanding of the relationship of mutual implication between memory and identity, by focusing on the construction of collective memory in a context where identity is uncertain, to analyse the dynamics interplay between different mnemonic communities built on the basis of lived experience, and between these communities and the representations of the past sponsored or favoured by the political class. The thesis will fill a gap in the Memory Studies literature dealing with the experience of war; post-conflict; Transitional Justice; and post-war Bosnia- Herzegovina, by going beyond the dominant trend focusing on public aspects of ccollective memory, such as commemorations and memorials, to place the population's lived experience and meaning making processes at the centre. 2 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. All photographs are the author's intelectual property. All maps used belong to the public domain unless specifically acknowledged. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 95.712 words. I can confirm that my thesis was copy edited for conventions of language, spelling and grammar by Quintin Hoare and Peter Lipmann, who also verified the accuracy of the translations. 3 Acknowledgements I thank my supervisors, Dr. Denisa Kostovicova and Dr. John Hutchinson, who shared with me their knowledge and experience, guiding and supporting me through this long process. At the LSE I found a vibrant environment that stimulated me to go further. I would like to thank in particular to the participants of the GV 510 Ethnicity and Nationalism Research Seminar, who, in the early stage of my doctoral studies, gave me a glimpse of what it is t o belong to the community of scholars; among them a special mention to Dr. Athena Leossi, for her support and advice. I thank also Dr. Sarabajaya Kumar, from the LSE Teaching and Learning Centre, who, more than anyone else, helped me preserve my sanity throughout this process. At the ISCSP, in Lisbon, where I studied for my BA and Master degrees, I thank my MA supervisor Prof. Dr. Manuel de Almeida Ribeiro; and Prof. Dr. Marcos Farias Ferreira; Prof. Dr. Heitor Romana; the late Prof. Dr. Paula Escarameia; Monica Ferro and Maria Teresa Paulo. I also thank Professor Sabrina Ramet; Professor Dr. Armando Marques Guedes; Marko Attila Hoare; Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers; Anna di Lellio; Marija Mandić; Adis Maksić; Andràs Riedlmeyer; and Owen Beith. Thanks to the many friends I made through the course of my doctoral studies, and in particular to Martin Williams and Philipp Decker at the LSE; and to Andjelka Marković, Agnieszka Wojcinska, Emir and Selma Krilić, Slađana Lazić, Christine Hassenstab, Heleen Touquet, Julianne Funk, Amra Panžo, Andrea Peres, Sebina Sivac-Bryant, Aline Cateaux, and Svjetlana Nedimović. A special thanks to Sven Gunnar Simonsen and Peter Lippman for their faith in me; and to Jelena Marković, with whom I learned so much. I was fortunate to receive funding from the Portuguese Government's Fundação de Ciência e Tecnologia; and later also from the LSE Financial Support Office; the LSE Department of Government; and from the British Fund for Women Graduates. For the trust these organisations placed in me, which allowed me to develop my research, conduct fieldwork and present my work in international conferences, I am deeply grateful. A special thanks to Ms. Rose Harris at the LSE Financial Support Office for being so supportive. I am deeply grateful to the all the people who participated in this research, and to those who helped me during fieldwork in Bosnia-Herzegovina. I am especially grateful to Saša Pazarac, 4 čika Idris Hujdurović, and to the late Lazar Manojlović, who in different ways had a deep impact in this research; knowing them made me a better person. Many thanks also to Sonja Biserko from the Helsinki Comittee for Human Rights in Serbia; and to Branko Todorović and his team at the Helsinki Comittee for Human Rights in Republika Srpska, who received me in Bijeljina and offered me office space and support getting settled. I thank the staff at the Museum of Semberija in Bijeljina, especially to Tanja Lazić and Zoran Midanović who shared with me their office while I went through the collection of the newspaper 'Semberske novine', and were always available to help me place things in the proper context of local politics. Thanks also to Jusuf Trbić for offering me copies of his books; and to the unknown individuals who digitalised and uploaded so many valuable books, namely to the znaci.net website, and to the website of the Filip Višnjić Library. I thank also my Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian language teachers Anamarija Marinović in Lisbon, Sandra Zlotrg in Sarajevo, and Valentina in Bijeljina. Learning “the language” was a long and hard process, and their commitment went much beyond what a student is allowed to expect from a teacher. Without them this research would not have been possible. During fieldwork, I had the company of my daughter Cecília, who was 18 months old when we first arrived in Bosnia in February 2014. I want to thank my daughter's childminders during fieldwork, Ana and Dora, and to the staff at the Vrtić Petar Pan in Bijeljina, for their love and dedication; I am also grateful to to the mothers of her school mates in London, especially Isabel, Kristin, Maria and Melissa, who often relieved me of my childcare duties so that I could work a bit more in the final stage of writing-up, when each minute matters. I am indebted to Emir and Selma Krilić; Sehija Softić; Dada Hadžić; Paulina Janusz; Kiko and Šefika Mujagić; and to Kemal and Kasim Pervanić, who opened the doors of their homes in Bosnia to my daughter and I when we needed to rest; I am particularly grateful to my neighbours in Alipašino polje in Sarajevo; to Aida Grbo; and to Zoran Ivančić, who helped me in two separate situations of medical emergency when I was in Sarajevo. I will never forget their kindness. Finally, I thank my family for their support, in particular my sisters Madalena, Marina and Diana, my brother Pedro, my sister-in-law Teresa, my niece Inês, and my daughter' grandparents, Branka Magaš and Quintin Hoare. 5 Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................................9 a) The research problem .........................................................................................................10 Research questions .....................................................................................................15 b) Research design ...................................................................................................................15 Methodology ...............................................................................................................16 Selection of the research site …...................................................................................19 c) The organisation of the thesis .............................................................................................20 1. Doing Ethnography to learn about Memory: Fieldwork in Bijeljina ................................................................................................................24 1.1 Entering the field...............................................................................................................25