War Schools: teaching innovations implemented across makeshift educational spaces during the military siege of Sarajevo

ABSTRACT

Educational practices that developed under the conditions of the military siege of Sarajevo during the Bosnian War (1992 – 1995) are examined. Analyses of interviews with teachers and students are juxtaposed with archival documentation to reveal the mode of educational activities and the structure of the curriculum implemented. By exploring how different conceptualisations of space and time rendered by the condition of the siege prefigure different human activities, the development of educational infrastructures across the besieged city are traced chronologically. The analyses highlight two educational forms: War Schools a network of makeshift mixed-age underground classrooms and Radio School daily educational broadcasts—together with the curricular innovations they engendered. Departing from a focus on individual outcomes such as deficits, trauma, and aggressive behaviours, this work instead argues that collective educational activities have the ability to constructively mediate threatening external circumstances and support young people’s psychological capacities even during the times of crisis.

KEYWORDS:

• War School
• Radio School
• curriculum development
• psychological development
• Bosnian War

Acknowledgments

This study is a part of a larger research project that was made possible by the financial support of the Mellon Foundation Fellowship and the Faculty Development Fund of Pratt Institute. The archival and interview data necessary for this project were collected with the immense assistance of the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Childhood War Museum. Without their help, it would not have been possible to carry out this study. Segments of the current article were included as part of a radio series entitled Unlearning Architecture, edited and prepared for Radio Belgrade 3 by Dubravka Sekulić and Jovana Timotijević. The author thanks them for encouragement, guidance, and engaging conversations during the preliminary stage of this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Mellon Foundation Fellowship for Faculty Research, Pratt Institute; Faculty Development Fund of Pratt Institute.