Citizens of an Empty Nation: Youth and State-Making in Postwar Bosnia-Herzegovina
In the wake of devastating conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the polarizing effects of everyday ethnic divisions, combined with hardened allegiances to ethnic nationalism and the rigid arrangements imposed in international peace-building agreements, have produced what Azra Hromadžić calls an "empty nation." Hromadžić explores the void created by unresolved tensions between mandated reunification initiatives and the segregation institutionalized by power-sharing democracy, and how these conditions are experienced by youths who have come of age in postconflict Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Building on long-term ethnographic research at the first integrated school of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Citizens of an Empty Nation offers a ground-level view of how the processes of reunification play out at the Mostar Gymnasium. Hromadžić details the local effects of the tensions and contradictions inherent in the processes of postwar state-making, shedding light on the larger projects of humanitarian intervention, social cohesion, cross-ethnic negotiations, and citizenship. In this careful ethnography, the Mostar Gymnasium becomes a powerful symbol for the state's simultaneous segregation and integration as the school's shared halls, bathrooms, and computer labs foster dynamic spaces for a rich cross-ethnic citizenship—or else remain empty.

"1120627785"
Citizens of an Empty Nation: Youth and State-Making in Postwar Bosnia-Herzegovina
In the wake of devastating conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the polarizing effects of everyday ethnic divisions, combined with hardened allegiances to ethnic nationalism and the rigid arrangements imposed in international peace-building agreements, have produced what Azra Hromadžić calls an "empty nation." Hromadžić explores the void created by unresolved tensions between mandated reunification initiatives and the segregation institutionalized by power-sharing democracy, and how these conditions are experienced by youths who have come of age in postconflict Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Building on long-term ethnographic research at the first integrated school of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Citizens of an Empty Nation offers a ground-level view of how the processes of reunification play out at the Mostar Gymnasium. Hromadžić details the local effects of the tensions and contradictions inherent in the processes of postwar state-making, shedding light on the larger projects of humanitarian intervention, social cohesion, cross-ethnic negotiations, and citizenship. In this careful ethnography, the Mostar Gymnasium becomes a powerful symbol for the state's simultaneous segregation and integration as the school's shared halls, bathrooms, and computer labs foster dynamic spaces for a rich cross-ethnic citizenship—or else remain empty.

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Citizens of an Empty Nation: Youth and State-Making in Postwar Bosnia-Herzegovina

Citizens of an Empty Nation: Youth and State-Making in Postwar Bosnia-Herzegovina

by Azra Hromadzic
Citizens of an Empty Nation: Youth and State-Making in Postwar Bosnia-Herzegovina

Citizens of an Empty Nation: Youth and State-Making in Postwar Bosnia-Herzegovina

by Azra Hromadzic

Hardcover(New Edition)

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Overview

In the wake of devastating conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the polarizing effects of everyday ethnic divisions, combined with hardened allegiances to ethnic nationalism and the rigid arrangements imposed in international peace-building agreements, have produced what Azra Hromadžić calls an "empty nation." Hromadžić explores the void created by unresolved tensions between mandated reunification initiatives and the segregation institutionalized by power-sharing democracy, and how these conditions are experienced by youths who have come of age in postconflict Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Building on long-term ethnographic research at the first integrated school of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Citizens of an Empty Nation offers a ground-level view of how the processes of reunification play out at the Mostar Gymnasium. Hromadžić details the local effects of the tensions and contradictions inherent in the processes of postwar state-making, shedding light on the larger projects of humanitarian intervention, social cohesion, cross-ethnic negotiations, and citizenship. In this careful ethnography, the Mostar Gymnasium becomes a powerful symbol for the state's simultaneous segregation and integration as the school's shared halls, bathrooms, and computer labs foster dynamic spaces for a rich cross-ethnic citizenship—or else remain empty.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780812247008
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication date: 05/12/2015
Series: The Ethnography of Political Violence
Edition description: New Edition
Pages: 248
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Azra Hromadžic teaches anthropology at Syracuse University.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I Integrating the School

1 Right to Difference 29

2 Cartography of Peace-Building 63

3 Bathroom Mixing 86

Part II Disintegrating the Nation

4 Poetics of Nationhood 105

5 Invisible Citizens 139

6 Anti-Citizens 156

Conclusion 181

Epilogue: Empty Nation, Empty Bellies 188

Notes 193

Bibliography 211

Index 225

Acknowledgments 237

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