Cultural Post #7

[Justin Chew]

Cultural Project

For the cultural project, I am interested in perceptions of American and Bosnian relations today. I aim to understand these perceptions through an analysis of three different narratives of the Bosnian War: Serb, Croat, and Bosniak. Knowledge of these three different narratives I hope, will allow me to better understand how and why the United States holds various reputations among the three different groups in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The four questions that will guide my analysis are as follows:

1. What happened?
2. How was it resolved?
3. Why was the resolution effective or ineffective?
4. What was the United States’ role in the conflict?

To answer these questions, I will consult three sources. First, I plan to interview three Bosnians from three different ethnic groups for this project: a Bosniak, a Serbian, and a Croat. Using university students as source material may not be the most factual or reliable in terms of historical accuracy, but they are helpful in my efforts to identify popular conceptions and assumptions of Bosnians’ own history. After all, it is too commonly these uninterrogated assumptions that define our prejudices and emotional ties to certain events or people.  Second, I will consult an academic source titled The War in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Ethnic Conflict and International Intervention by Steven L. Burg and Paul S. Shoup. This will provide a rigorous and professional account of both the war in Bosnia and the role of America. Third, I will refer back to the Youtube videos and movies that I’ve seen. Cultural output is useful and fun means to glean insights into a society’s account of historical events.

Ultimately, the goal of this project is to further my understanding of the three different realities that exist in Bosnia Herzegovina. By the end of this project, I hope to be able to identify similarities and differences between them. As I plan to travel and potentially conduct federally-funded research in Bosnia, I am also interested in understanding where the United States fits into these narratives.