Social Science Research Council

"Emerging Citizens: Youth, Education, and Democratization in Post-conflict Bosnia-Herzegovina"

This ethnographic and anthropological study of post-conflict Bosnia-Herzegovina sets out to explore the following tension: the internationally administrated reconciliation and democratization programs intend to build a reconciled nation and democratic state in Bosnia-Herzegovina; yet, they foster the production of ethnically divided and "denationalized" citizens that obstruct the creation of a viable state. In order to get at the lived complexities of this tension, I ask, how do young people, as designated agents of change for the reconciliation and democratization of Bosnia-Herzegovina, experience the process of state-making in everyday life? An in-depth ethnography utilizing three main anthropological methods (multi-sited participant observation, interviews, and discourse and content analysis) in the Mostar Secondary School will explore the aforementioned tension and thereby provide detailed knowledge of the everyday processes of reconciliation and democratization in a society disintegrated by violent ethnic conflict.