Facing the violent past: discussions with Serbia's youth

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size

Notes

Carla Hesse and Robert Post, eds, Human Rights in Political Transitions: Gettysburg to Bosnia (New York: Zone Books, 1999), p. 20.

This number does not represent the total number of interviews conducted. I also interviewed people outside of Belgrade and in other parts of the former Yugoslavia; however, I did not include these interviews in the analysis presented in the present article.

NGO Policy Group, Third Sector in Serbia: Status and Prospects (Belgrade: Center for the Development of the Non‐profit Sector and the NGO Policy Group, 2001), p. 16.

Ibid., 29.

Ibid.

See John E. Mack, “The Enemy System,” in Vamik D. Volkan, Demetrios A. Julius and Joseph V. Montville, eds, Psychodynamics of International Relationships, Volume I: Concepts and Theories (Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1990), pp. 57–69. See also Ervin Staub, The Roots of Evil: The Origins of Genocide and Other Group Violence (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989).

Rafael Moses, “Self, Self‐View, and Identity,” in Vamik D. Volkan, Demetrios A. Julius and Joseph V. Montville, eds, Psychodynamics of International Relationships, Volume I: Concepts and Theories (Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1990), pp. 47–55.

See Cynthia Sampson, Mohammed Abu‐Nimer, Claudia Liebler and Diana Whitney, eds, Positive Approaches to Peacebuilding: A Resource for Innovators (Washington, DC: PACT, 2003).

Moses, “Self, Self‐View, and Identity,” 53.

These points are backed by numerous interviews in which people either identified themselves as victims of larger processes and powers (not in the sense of being a direct victim of a particular incident) or spoke about the prevailing sense of victimhood in Serbian society.

Vamik Volkan's concept of “chosen traumas” is relevant here. According to him, “[chosen traumas] are powerful experiences of loss and feelings of humiliation, vengeance, and hatred that trigger a variety of unconscious defense mechanisms that attempt to reverse these experiences and feelings” (Vamik Volkan, Bloodlines: From Ethnic Pride to Ethnic Terrorism. (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1997), pp. 82–84).

Vamik D. Volkan, The Need to Have Enemies and Allies: From Clinical Practice to International Relationships (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1988).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Maryanne Yerkes