![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
The article examines how historical analogies and collective memories of the 1990s wars figured in public discussions during the first wave of the coronavirus crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. The research is based on the analysis of political speeches, media articles and social networks posts, examining the presence – or absence – of war analogies in these sources in the first period of the coronavirus pandemic, from mid-March 2020 to mid-May 2020. The article examines in which ways historical analogies referring to the 1990s wars were used during the coronavirus pandemic in two societies which have a recent war experience. By analysing to what extent and in which ways analogies to the war were used in political and societal discourses in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, this article adds to the existing literature on the use of historical analogies by focusing on the use of war analogies in societies where the war is not an abstract reference, but a recent, lived experience.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. See Emanual Macron’s official address to the nation, 16 March 2020. https://www.elysee.fr/emmanuel-macron/2020/03/16/adresse-aux-francais-covid19 [All internet sources were last accessed on 27 April 2021].
2. See Prime Minister Boris Johnson address to the nation on coronavirus, 23 March 2020. https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-address-to-the-nation-on-coronavirus-23-march-2020?utm_source=3e82ab56-0ac0-456b-9c3c-7e48ba3325f0&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=immediate.
3. See Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing, 22 March 2020. https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-vice-president-pence-members-coronavirus-task-force-press-briefing-8/.
4. See for example https://twitter.com/search?q=war%20metaphor%20coronavirus&src=typed_query
5. For an overview of the existing literature see Ghilanoi et al. (Citation2017).
6. All translations from Bosnian and Croatian into English were made by the authors, unless stated otherwise.
7. Zoran Ivančić, personal Facebook page, 17 March 2020. https://www.facebook.com/zoran.ivancic/posts/10218964729564030.
8. Dino Edin Lendo, personal Facebook page, 21 March 2020. https://www.facebook.com/dinoedinlendo/posts/10158318679567652.
9. Ilidža is a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Sarajevo which was occupied by Bosnian Serb forces at the beginning of the war in 1992. The White Eagles were a Serbian paramilitary group which committed crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war. Tomo (Tomislav) Kovač was the Bosnian Serb chief of police in Ilidža during the war.
10. Email correspondence between one of the authors and Kristina Čorić about her experiences during the pandemic in Mostar in March/April 2020 (15 July 2020).
11. Video message from the Sarajevo mayor Abdulah Skaka to citizens of Sarajevo, 5 April 2020. https://www.sarajevo.ba/bs/article/7987/video-poruka-gradonacelnika-skake-gradanima-sarajeva.
12. For the official communication of the Council of Ministers of BiH on 17 March 2020 see: http://www.vijeceministara.gov.ba/saopstenja/sjednice/saopstenja_sa_sjednica/default.aspx?id=32585&langTag=bs-BAIn her first speech on 19 March 2020 about the pandemic, the Minister of Civil Affairs of BiH avoided any reference to the war, also when emphasizing the gravity of the situation: ‘We will agree that in BiH’s recent history there has not been a more difficult situation for all of us equally. It is exactly this misfortune that entered our country and our lives uninvited that made a great demand on us: to be together, to be next to each other and to take care of each other’. See http://mcp.gov.ba/publication/read/povodom-odluke-o-proglasenju-prirodne-ili-druge-nesrece-na-teritoriji-bih-ministrica-ankica-gudeljev?pageId=97. When the governments of the two entities, the Federation of BiH and Republika Srpska, declared the state of emergency for their territories on 16 March 2020, they also abstained from referring to the war. See for example communication of the government of the Federation of BiH on 16 March 2020 at http://www.fbihvlada.gov.ba/bosanski/aktuelno_v2.php?akt_id=8417. See also the press conference of the government of Republika Srpska on 16 March 2020 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na6csMnGqwA.
13. See for example the press conference of the government of the Canton Sarajevo on 22 March 2020 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYw3-AH6ZpU.
14. See some examples in Buljubašić (Citation2020).
15. Srđan Puhalo, public Facebook page, 6 April 2020. https://www.facebook.com/SrkiPuhalo/
16. See Prime Minister Andrej Plenković’s speech in the Parliament on 18 March 2020 at https://vlada.gov.hr/vijesti/vrijeme-je-za-jedinstvo-nacije-samo-uz-zajednicku-odgovornost-i-solidarnost-bolje-cemo-prebroditi-ovu-krizu/29023
17. See Prime Minister Andrej Plenković’s address to the nation on 19 March 2020 at https://vlada.gov.hr/vijesti/plenkovic-borba-protiv-koronavirusa-najveca-je-kriza-od-domovinskog-rata-potrebna-je-odgovornost-svakog-od-nas/29041.
18. Similar cases of raising national pride and sense of national exceptionalism have also been noticed in other European countries. See for example Antonsich (Citation2020).
19. See the episode of TV show Bujica from 10 April 2020 at https://www.domovinskipokret.hr/blog/Dr__Zvonimir_Lovric_Korona_kriza_neusporediva_je_s_Domovinskim_ratom/61.
20. Ovčara is the site of a mass crime near Vukovar that happened on 20 November 1991, when Yugoslav People’s Army members beat and then killed at least 264 captives who were removed from the Vukovar hospital. See ‘Vukovar Hospital’ Mrkšić et al. case information sheet on the website of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (http://www.icty.org/x/cases/mrksic/cis/en/cis_mrksic_al_en.pdf).
21. For a detailed discussion on fragmented memories of the 1990s war in Bosnia and Herzegovina see Moll (Citation2013). For a discussion on official and collective memory of the Homeland War in Croatia see Pavlaković and Pauković (Citation2019).
22. See, for example, Alexander (Citation2012) and Alexander et al. (Citation2004).
23. See comments on the Facebook page of Radio Sarajevo, which published Kreševljaković’s text: https://www.facebook.com/RadioSarajevo/posts/10157607249826300.
24. Email correspondence between one of the authors and Kristina Čorić about her experiences during the pandemic in Mostar in March/April 2020 (15 July 2020).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Tamara Banjeglav
Tamara Banjeglav received her PhD degree from the University of Graz, Austria, where she also held a junior fellowship in the Field of Excellence “Dimensions of Europeanization” at the Centre for Southeast European Studies. Her research interests fall within the fields of memory studies, transitional justice, and nationalism studies, particularly in the post-Yugoslav space. She is currently an independent scholar.
Nicolas Moll
Nicolas Moll received his PhD degree in Contemporary History from the University of Freiburg i. Br., Germany. He has been living in Sarajevo since 2007, where he is working as an independent researcher. His research interests include memorialization processes in post-war societies, international civil society movements and political symbolism in a European context, with a special focus on the post-Yugoslav space.