Through my study of Bosnian culture, I have noticed three radically different conceptions of history from the Serbian, Croatian, and Bosniak groups. What these three have in common as a result of this history is a distrust of each other unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Without trust, without the comfort to disclose freely in relationship-building discourse, little hope remains for any people genuinely hoping to negotiate and build a better future for one another—together. These people have sustained and inflicted horrendous pain from on one another. Each is suspicious of one another’s true intentions. The root cause of all of this, I believe, lies in the assumptions and expectations that come from each side’s illogical, concrete, and sadly distorted near fanatical belief in an incomplete version of their shared pasts. The adherence to their respective historical narratives is dogmatic, comparable to Christians’ unmoving belief in the divinity of the Bible and existence of God. This narrative shapes how they perceive, think, feel, and ultimately act towards the other side.
Part of why I love history, part of why I want to be a historian is that I truly believe that conceptions of the past profoundly impact people in the ways that I’ve described above. Historical memory defines the present and future. It is my duty as a prospective historian to destroy cemented narratives that are over simplistic, to clarify the picture in a way that will bring about a better understanding of how and why certain events came to be, why certain people acted the way that they acted, who these people were. To get this story straight, I believe, is the only way human beings by nature can “move on” in the most productive and healthy way. That is not to say one should hide the atrocities of the past, or relieve parties of responsibility. I just think that people run into trouble when they misplace their indignation and praise. Things with such significant implications and consequences deserve thorough interrogation and justification.
This thinkpiece/cultural piece was inspired by a lot of thinking I’ve been doing in regards to my philosophy of history, general philosophy, reflections on the Bosnians I’ve spoken to, my history course work, and some reading I’ve been doing in regards to the disastrous state of Bosnian politics. According to historians Steven Burg and Paul Shoup, Bosnians have adopted a power sharing approach. This means that each ethnic group has its own territory and veto power. A small group of elites determine vital interests of respective groups. It is one of the saddest, most ridiculous system of government I have ever come across in my life. Underlying this “power share” approach, demanded by the three parties, is emblematic of the phenomenon I describe above: total distrust.
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