Ruptured pasts and captured futures: Life narratives in postwar Mostar

TitleRuptured pasts and captured futures: Life narratives in postwar Mostar
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2013
AuthorsMonika Palmberger
JournalFocaal
Volume2013
Issue66
Pagination14-24
ISSN09201297
Abstract

In situations in which an entire population is affected by war and great political-economic transformations, as was the case in Bosnia and Herzegovina, generational differences exist regarding the extent to which people experience these events as disruptions to their lives. Even in a nationally divided city like Mostar after the 1992-1995 war, generational experiences-of past and present times as well as of future prospects (or the lack thereof)-are crucial for the way people rethink the past and (re)position themselves in the present. In the case of the generation of the "Last Yugoslavs", I argue that the disruption of their life course and the resulting loss of future prospects prevent people from narrating the local past and their lives in a meaningful and coherent way.

DOI10.3167/fcl.2013.660102
Short TitleRuptured pasts and captured futures