Lessons from Baljvine: what a small, ethnically mixed Bosnian village that avoided bloodshed in the war of the 1990s can teach us about peace and ethnic relations
This lecture explores the remarkable case of Baljvine, a small village in Bosnia and Herzegovina where, unlike much of the country during the 1990s war, local Bosniaks and Serbs refrained from interethnic violence. Through a multi-method research approach—combining qualitative observation, participant engagement, and interviews with villagers—the lecture examines the key factors that contributed to this 'unusual peace' in a war-torn country. The lecture investigates how a unique set of intersubjective motivations, a series of smaller yet significant coincidences, and certain favourable structural conditions together formed a “peace mosaic.” This enduring example of harmonious ethnic relations continues to shape the village today. The lecture is part of the project »Anxieties in Cities of Southeast European Post-Conflict Societies: Introducing an Integrative Approach to Peacebuilding« (Anxious Peace), funded by the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency.
Vortragende(r)
Rok Zupančič is a professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana. His research focuses on conflict prevention and peacebuilding in Southeast Europe, with a particular interest in how anxiety—psychologically, physiologically, and neurobiologically—shapes the body-minds of individuals in post-conflict societies. He leads multiple research teams working on projects funded by Horizon Europe and the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (ARIS). The study presented at this event is part of the project Anxieties in cities of Southeast European post-conflict societies: introducing an integrative approach to peacebuilding (Anxious Peace), supported by ARIS.
Kontakt
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Alexandra Schwell (alexandra [dot] schwell [at] aau [dot] at)
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