Navigating the Labyrinth of Memory: A narrative study of alternative memorializations of the 1990’s Yugoslav Wars in contemporary Serbia
(2024) FKVK02 20241Department of Political Science
- Abstract
- This thesis aims to discuss how histories of violent conflict can be addressed in a manner that enables societies to move on from legacies of war, a process herein referred to as reconciliation. By analyzing a historical museum exhibition situated in Serbia that takes on the decade of the 1990’s in (post-)Yugoslavia, the question of how memory agents construct narrations of the past for the purpose of fostering reconciliation is analyzed and discussed. Some 25 years after the last armed conflict of the Yugoslav wars took place, the legacy of the wars still prevail across the region of the Western Balkans. Historical narratives depicting the wars are marked by ethnocentrism and nationalism, and many argue that contemporary political elites... (More)
- This thesis aims to discuss how histories of violent conflict can be addressed in a manner that enables societies to move on from legacies of war, a process herein referred to as reconciliation. By analyzing a historical museum exhibition situated in Serbia that takes on the decade of the 1990’s in (post-)Yugoslavia, the question of how memory agents construct narrations of the past for the purpose of fostering reconciliation is analyzed and discussed. Some 25 years after the last armed conflict of the Yugoslav wars took place, the legacy of the wars still prevail across the region of the Western Balkans. Historical narratives depicting the wars are marked by ethnocentrism and nationalism, and many argue that contemporary political elites benefit from sustaining these narratives, contributing to political deadlocks and perpetuating hostile relations. Thus, this case illustrates a practice that deviates from and challenges master narratives reproduced by political elites. The study takes on a multimethod approach by combining a narrative analysis of the exhibition material, consisting of texts, images and videos, and semi-structured interviews, as well as secondary interview material. The case is examined using a two-dimensional theoretical framework merged from a theory about reconciliation processes and a theory about three different modes of narrating violent conflicts; antagonistic, cosmopolitan and agonistic modes of remembering. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9154069
- author
- Lekenstam, Felicia LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- FKVK02 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- historical narratives, reconciliation, Yugoslavia, Western Balkans, agonistic memory
- language
- English
- id
- 9154069
- date added to LUP
- 2024-07-18 14:05:43
- date last changed
- 2024-07-18 14:05:43
@misc{9154069,
abstract = {{This thesis aims to discuss how histories of violent conflict can be addressed in a manner that enables societies to move on from legacies of war, a process herein referred to as reconciliation. By analyzing a historical museum exhibition situated in Serbia that takes on the decade of the 1990’s in (post-)Yugoslavia, the question of how memory agents construct narrations of the past for the purpose of fostering reconciliation is analyzed and discussed. Some 25 years after the last armed conflict of the Yugoslav wars took place, the legacy of the wars still prevail across the region of the Western Balkans. Historical narratives depicting the wars are marked by ethnocentrism and nationalism, and many argue that contemporary political elites benefit from sustaining these narratives, contributing to political deadlocks and perpetuating hostile relations. Thus, this case illustrates a practice that deviates from and challenges master narratives reproduced by political elites. The study takes on a multimethod approach by combining a narrative analysis of the exhibition material, consisting of texts, images and videos, and semi-structured interviews, as well as secondary interview material. The case is examined using a two-dimensional theoretical framework merged from a theory about reconciliation processes and a theory about three different modes of narrating violent conflicts; antagonistic, cosmopolitan and agonistic modes of remembering.}},
author = {{Lekenstam, Felicia}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Navigating the Labyrinth of Memory: A narrative study of alternative memorializations of the 1990’s Yugoslav Wars in contemporary Serbia}},
year = {{2024}},
}