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Concentration Camp Rituals: Narratives of Former Bosnian Detainees

Basic, Goran LU (2015) In Humanity & Society p.1-22
Abstract
In the German camps during the Second World War, the aim was to kill from a distance, and the camps were highly efficient in their operations. Previous studies have thus analyzed the industrialized killing and the victims' survival strategies. Researchers have emphasized the importance of narratives but they have not focused on narratives about camp rituals, or analyzed post-war interviews as a continued resistance and defense of one’s self. This article tries to fill this gap by analyzing stories told by former detainees in concentration camps in the Bosnian war during the 1990s. The article aims to describe a set of recounted interaction rituals as well as to identify how these rituals are dramatized in interviews. The retold stories of... (More)
In the German camps during the Second World War, the aim was to kill from a distance, and the camps were highly efficient in their operations. Previous studies have thus analyzed the industrialized killing and the victims' survival strategies. Researchers have emphasized the importance of narratives but they have not focused on narratives about camp rituals, or analyzed post-war interviews as a continued resistance and defense of one’s self. This article tries to fill this gap by analyzing stories told by former detainees in concentration camps in the Bosnian war during the 1990s. The article aims to describe a set of recounted interaction rituals as well as to identify how these rituals are dramatized in interviews. The retold stories of humiliation and power in the camps indicate that there

was little space for individuality and preservation of self. Nevertheless, the detainees seem to have been able to generate some room for resistance, and this seems to have granted them a sense of honor and self-esteem, not least after the war. Their narratives today represent a form of continued resistance. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
humiliated self, power ritual, de-ritualization, resistance, status ritual, stigma
in
Humanity & Society
pages
1 - 22
publisher
SAGE Publications
ISSN
0160-5976
DOI
10.1177/0160597615621593
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
First published online: December 23, 2015.
id
ebc9f9cf-ae77-4ac1-b445-f6eeeed9de05 (old id 8233727)
alternative location
http://has.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/12/23/0160597615621593.abstract
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:22:12
date last changed
2018-11-21 20:26:05
@article{ebc9f9cf-ae77-4ac1-b445-f6eeeed9de05,
  abstract     = {{In the German camps during the Second World War, the aim was to kill from a distance, and the camps were highly efficient in their operations. Previous studies have thus analyzed the industrialized killing and the victims' survival strategies. Researchers have emphasized the importance of narratives but they have not focused on narratives about camp rituals, or analyzed post-war interviews as a continued resistance and defense of one’s self. This article tries to fill this gap by analyzing stories told by former detainees in concentration camps in the Bosnian war during the 1990s. The article aims to describe a set of recounted interaction rituals as well as to identify how these rituals are dramatized in interviews. The retold stories of humiliation and power in the camps indicate that there<br/><br>
was little space for individuality and preservation of self. Nevertheless, the detainees seem to have been able to generate some room for resistance, and this seems to have granted them a sense of honor and self-esteem, not least after the war. Their narratives today represent a form of continued resistance.}},
  author       = {{Basic, Goran}},
  issn         = {{0160-5976}},
  keywords     = {{humiliated self; power ritual; de-ritualization; resistance; status ritual; stigma}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{1--22}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Humanity & Society}},
  title        = {{Concentration Camp Rituals: Narratives of Former Bosnian Detainees}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/3936848/8498274.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/0160597615621593}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}