Conditions for Reconciliation: Narratives of Survivors from the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Purpose:
The aim of this article was to analyse the retold experiences of 27 survivors from the 1990s war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I have examined verbal markers of reconciliation and implacability and analysed the described terms for reconciliation that are being actualized in the narratives.
Design/Methods/Approach:
The material for the study was gathered through qualitative interviews with 27 individuals who survived the war in north-western Bosnia and Herzegovina. This study joins those narrative traditions within sociology where oral presentations are seen as both discursive- and experience-based. In addition, I perceive the concept of reconciliation as an especially relevant component in those specific stories that I analysed.
Findings:
Stories on implacability, reconciliation, and conditions for reconciliation are not shaped only in relation to the war as a whole but also in relation to an individual’s wartime actions and those of others. In these stories, implacability is the predominant feature, but reconciliation is said to be possible if certain conditions are met. Examples of these conditions are justice for war victims, perpetrator recognition of crimes, and emotional commitment from the perpetrator (by showing remorse and shame, for example).
Originality/Value:
Previous research on post-war society emphasized structural violence with subsequent reconciliation processes. Researchers have focused on the importance of narratives, but they have neither analysed conditions for reconciliation in post-war interviews. This article tries to fill this gap by analysing the stories told by survivors of the Bosnian war during the 1990s.
UDC: 341.38+94(497.6)
Keywords: reconciliation, narrative, forgiveness, implacability, conditions for reconciliation, justice