Paper short abstract:

This presentation discusses discourses and imageries of the continuation of genocide and the politics of ethnic cleansing in the area of Podrinje in Eastern Bosnia and underlines the interconnections between warfare and economic and political fields in times of war and peace.

Paper long abstract:

Bosnian war (1992-1995) broke out as part of the larger process of the disintegration of the SFRY. The politics of ethnic cleansing was used as part of the general warfare strategy in the 1990s conflict spilling the violence from place to place in the newly emerging nation-states of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Ultimately, it was the ethnic cleansing, which made the delineation of the new nation-states possible and formed the nowadays borders. In the area of Podrinje in Eastern Bosnia, the politics of ethnic cleansing was executed mainly by the Bosnian Serb Army and aimed against all non-Serb inhabitants (namely the population of the Muslim origin).

Even though, the year 2020 marks twenty-five years since the Srebrenica genocide and the end of the war in BiH, in local public and academic discourses the idea of a certain continuation of genocide and ethnic cleansing persists. In particular, the entity of Republika Srpska is seen by some as a direct result of ethnic cleansing and the legitimization and continuation of the war politics in the peace time. This presentation discusses discourses and imageries of the continuation of war, genocide and the politics of ethnic cleansing in the area of Podrinje in Eastern Bosnia, namely the Srebrenica municipality, where I have conducted a longterm ethnographic research. On this particular example, I also aim to illustrate the interconnections between warfare and economic and political fields in times of war and peace.