https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4220-7080
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ABSTRACT
The article examines the life-stories of three young people who were born in Switzerland, but whose parents fled Bosnia due to the Yugoslav disintegration wars. These biographic portraits present three different ways of relating to and identifying with the country of origin, and (dis)engaging with its violent past. The paper highlights the ways in which young people are exposed to histories of violence and how these become personally relevant to them. One way of relating to this violent past is through family histories and memories, but these often remain obscure and fragmented. At the same time, young people encounter the legacies of the conflict outside the family and the home: in different diasporic and non-diasporic social spaces. The paper identifies the crucial role of diasporic divisions resulting from the conflict, social encounters in different contexts, and exposure to alternative historic narratives, in the development of young people's sense of belonging.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank three anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback and comment on the paper as well as Swiss National Science Foundation and Landis & Gyr Stiftung for the financial support.
Statement of ethics
Research participants have provided an informed verbal consent to take part in the research study and to give an interview. They agreed that their quotes and anonymized information will be published in the article. All interviews have been anonymized and research participants were given pseudonyms to protect their identity. The ethical approval was not given by the specialized body (ethical committee) but the research design has been evaluated from the ethical side by the funding body as well as by the host institution were the study was conducted.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 The term “second-generation” is commonly used in scholarship as an umbrella term for the children and grandchildren of migrants. It glosses over what can be significant intergenerational differences, for example between those born in the host country and those who arrived at an older age, for example in adolescence (referred to as the 1.5 generation) (Rumbaut Citation2004; Paul Citation2023). Its use has also been criticized for its “migranticizing” lens on young people (Dahinden, Fischer, and Menet Citation2021).
2 The concept of the “postmigrant generation” – which literally means “after migration” – has been developed in recent years in German-speaking Europe and is now increasingly used in international research on migration (Ohnmacht and Yildiz Citation2021).
3 The article is part of the larger research project on diaspora youth and its relationship to the armed conflicts in the country of origin that run from 2018 to 2022 and was financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation (Grant Nr. 174164).
4 The ethnographic component of the research project had to be curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
5 “Bosniak” is a commonly used term for Bosnian Muslims in postwar Bosnia. Until 1971, when Yugoslav authorities introduced “Muslim” as an ethnic category in the census, Bosniaks lacked their own ethnic designation and had to choose between “Croat”, “Serbian”, and “Undefined” (Halilovich Citation2013).
6 Called KUDs, these groups offer youth the opportunity to learn traditional folk dances from their respective regions and participate in folk-dance competitions.
7 Heimatsprache und Kultur in German. The Croatian and Serbian embassies in Switzerland support their respective homeland language and culture courses. However, the Bosnian government provides no such support. Children of Bosnian Muslims have the option of attending the Croatian or Serbian public school courses, or those organized by Bosnian Islamic associations.
8 All names used in the article are pseudonyms. The ages provided are those at the time of the first (in case there were several) interview.
9 The three-finger salute was used by Serbian paramilitary (četniks) in the World War II, as well as by Serbian forces during the Yugoslav wars (Halilovich Citation2013).
10 Republika Srpska is a Serb-dominated entity in Bosnia–Herzegovina which was established following ethnic cleansing campaign in the region. Its leadership regularly makes secessionist claims.
11 In this respect, Lejla rearticulated historic narratives about the pre-Ottoman, medieval Bosnian kingdom and the Bogomil faith. In post-war Bosnia, such historical references have often been invoked to argue that Bosnia had a distinct (and syncretic) cultural identity prior to Ottoman rule (Bijedić Citation2009; Halilovich Citation2013).
12 August 5th is officially celebrated in Croatia as Victory Day and Homeland Day. It marks the end of the Operation "Storm" (Oluja), during which parts of the Croatian territory were liberated from the Yugoslav army.
13 The official Croatian name for the war in Croatia (1991–1995) during the Yugoslav disintegration wars.
14 For example, a distinctive cross on a necklace or bracelet.