5 I have called the three generations 'First Yugoslavs', 'Last Yugoslavs' and 'Post-Yugoslavs', because their personal experience of different phases of Yugoslavia or the lack thereof is decisive in the way Mostarians position themselves in the past . Yet there are significant generational differences in the ways in which Mostarians make sense of and position themselves vis-à-vis the past in the present. This is because the three generations identified in the study do not each constitute a community in the sense of a group based on social interaction.
In recent decades there has been a strong growth in memory studies in the social sciences (Berliner 2005). My research, focusing on the role of generational positioning, reveals that past experiences inform present attitudes, but also shows that it is the actor in the present who makes sense of the past. It is this area of tension between the collective and the personal, and between persistence and change that is central to the discussion of generational positioning in this book.
The concept of 'generational positioning', which I introduce in this book, gives further meaning to the stage of life in the sense of a particular one. 8 Today there is widespread interest in the concept of generation within the social sciences and beyond.
A Narrative Approach to Remembering
Memories are therefore understood as interpretations of the past that always involve intellectual work (Wood 1991). To be precise, it is not only about how the past is narrated, but also about how the narrators position themselves in the past (Antze and Lambek 1996b). Memory thus acts as an orienting force and "there are times when a very specific vision of the future frames the use of the past" (Irwin-Zarecka 1994: 101).
In a similar vein, Kidron (2009) expresses concern about the widespread interest of scholars in the political instrumentalization of the past, while neglecting the more silent everyday mnemonic practices that constitute the "living presence of the past" (Kidron 2009: 8). However, the focus on collective memory is often maintained at the expense of the individual agent. In this way, the difference between the nature of 'strategies' found in the dominant public discourse (Bosnian and Croatian) and in people's personal narratives is explored.
In the process, I draw attention to the specific discursive strategies used in the historical narratives of university lectures and those present at ceremonies. My research reveals that there is a difference between the nature of the 'stratagems' found in official (Bosniak and Croatian) national narratives and in people's personal narratives.
The Fine Line Between Memory and History
Although the concept of discursive tactics used in this study is related to de Certeau's concept of tactics, it is understood in a somewhat different way. Tactics as de Certeau describes them are more closely linked to resistance than the way tactics are used here. As shown in this book, individuals make sense of the past by referring to autobiographical memories as well as to second-hand pasts (eg narratives from older family members) and institutionalized/official histories, which are intermingled in their narratives.
At the national level, representations of the past are struggles over whose memories will be preserved and institutionalized and whose will be suppressed or forgotten (Natzmer 2002; see also Purdeková 2008; Vidaković 1989). Since different groups in any society have unequal access to power, the starting positions for presenting their own perception of the past to the public are unequal.13 The state has a privileged position in historiography, whereby the discourse of the state is presented as knowledge (history), while knowledge is of its citizens presented as an opinion (memory) (Borneman 1992: 40). Within the politics of memory, at least two processes can be identified: at a large level, we see the whole political process of the interplay between shared memories, definitions of the future and collective action.
13 In order to maintain a dominant discourse that supports existing power structures, ruling politicians exploit commemorations and (war) memorials and reburials of the dead (see Bougarel 2007; Campbell et al. 2000; Sant Cassia 2005). ; Verdery 1999). In an authoritarian state, such narratives are likely to remain in the private sphere or outside state control (e.g., in the memoirs of dissidents). In this context, the temptation is to see the dominant discourse as oppressive and negative, and the discourses that challenge it as positive and closer to the "truth".
However, rather than asking about the truth of official narratives or counter-narratives, the most important and significant question, even for this book, is about the relationship between them (see Fentress and Wickham 1992). In choosing to talk about accounts of the past, I try to avoid making too sharp a distinction between memory and history. It is not useful to draw a strict line between memory and history, neither analytical nor ethnographic.
Ethnographic exploration of the fluid, interdependent relationship between history and memory rejects the inflexible bifurcation of the past into "history." In this contrast, history becomes contextual and "memory," whether collective or individual, becomes a dimension of intersubjective meaning. Here we are dealing with more than one version of history: it is a history in the making, but at two different ends.
Situating Mostar’s Memories
The Bosniak and Croat dominant national narratives diverge sharply when it comes to interpreting the 1992-1995 war. The ruins and bullet holes in the buildings, visible all over the city, are much worse on the east side than on the west because of the Croats. Out of approximately 20,000 Serbs, only about 1,000 remained in the divided city during the war, and only a minority of those who fled returned after it (Bose 2002).
Nevertheless, there are some markers that give hints about the 'nationality' of the two parts of the city. To maintain it, all reminders of the Yugoslav past had to be erased from everyday life. For me, as a foreigner who has lived in BiH for three years, the 'border' between the Bosnian and Croat parts of the city, as well as the war, was always present.
Close to the door of the house where our first flat stood was a blind grenade stuck in the ground, another stark reminder of the recent war. Even impromptu conversations on the street, at gallery openings, on the playground, and so on tended to end with people directly or indirectly asking me which side of town I lived on. Cernica – the part of Mostar where I lived with my family, and one of the oldest residential areas – was mainly known for its village character and the presence of gossip.
Second, I looked for field sites that would allow me to explore discourses of public memory as well as individual narratives of the past. Commemorations were attributed either to victims and heroes of the Second World War or to the war in the 1990s and - to a lesser extent - to prominent local artists. Most of the interviews were conducted in the local language and the interview quotes presented in this book are English translations.
Linking recent experiences to those early in their lives is thus a central discursive tactic used in the narratives of the oldest generation. In the second part of the chapter, the discussion moves from an individual/personal to a more collective/public level. As shown in the book, the lives of the Last Yugoslavia were most shaken by the outbreak of war in the 1990s and the end of socialist Yugoslavia.
Due to their young age at the time of the war, the post-Yugoslavs claim a neutral position for themselves. The discursive tactics of the post-Yugoslav generation serve to dampen the impact of the war on their lives.
Bibliography
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