This study trip has emerged as an extension of the course Narratives of Peace, Conflict and Justice, but was open to other students from BISLA as well. 17 students, accompanied with Dr. Dagmar Kusá packed into two vans, heading out for the learning and adventure.
The main purpose of this short but very intensive program was to find the traces of the conflicts of the twentieth and twenty first centuries on the present day society, relations, politics. The visit took place as the United Nations was deliberating a resolution on the Srebrenica genocide, which stirred up tensions between the Bosniaks and Serbs living in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The program entailed four lectures and discussions with experts on the history of totalitarianism, ethnic conflicts and genocide. We learned about the identity of the people living in Bosnia and Herzegovina and how it entered the conflicts in 1990s in discussion with Dr. Hikmet Karcic. Visiting the National History Museum, we studied the legacy of fascism and communism with its director Dr. Emina Zivkovic and her colleagues.
One day was devoted to the visit of the Memorial Center in Srebrenica, the sight of the worst massacre since the Second World War in Europe, when over 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed. For half of the day, we were immersed in the stories of the survivors (including our curator for the day), the root causes of the massacres, the failures of the international society during the conflicts of the 1990s, and the weight of the legacy in present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The program also included "lighter" items, including a guided tour of Sarajevo's and Bosnian history, mixture of cultures, we explored local crafts, markets, food, and music.
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