IWPR Report Inspires Debate on Sectarianism in Bosnia
IWPR Report Inspires Debate on Sectarianism in Bosnia
In June this year, Jennings travelled to Bosnia on a field trip, which resulted in his article Stolac: A Town Deeply Divided.
The piece, which was published on July 4, focused on the divide which remains between Bosniak and Croat communities in the town, located in the southern part of Herzegovina, 13 years after the Bosnian conflict ended.
Professor of sociology at the University of Mostar Slavko Kukic said articles like those produced by IWPR could provide a catalyst for change in the Balkans.
Sociology professor at the University of Mostar Slavko Kukic said the piece revealed how much work has to be done before reconciliation can be achieved in the Balkans.
”The article about Stolac reveals the effects of ideologies on people and their everyday lives, and shows us how ethnic division works on a micro level,” he said.
“We constantly hope that there will be reconciliation in the former Yugoslavia, especially in Bosnian society, but this analysis shows we still have a long way to go.”
Kukic said it is essential that Bosnian society gets rid of wartime ideologies, “which are based on the logic that ethnic homogenisation is the matter of survival; that those who different are a constant threat and danger to our survival”.
He said he thought that articles like those produced by IWPR could provide a catalyst for change.
