CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020
| Author | Spinelli, Marcoandrea |
|---|---|
| Title | The phenomenon of the exchange of the houses between Serbs and Croats during the Nineties Wars |
| Summary | My project deals with the notions of identity and ethnic enmity and with the phenomenon of the exchange of houses, happened during the Nineties War between Serbs of Croatia and Croats of Serbia, in the Serbian region of Vojvodina and in the Croatian region of Slavonia, at the border of the two countries. Through eleven interviews, gathered from April 2018 to August 2019, all the range of possibilities are covered: Serbs obliged to move from Croatia, a Croat obliged to move from Serbia, and Serbs and Croats that remained to live in the same place. The existence of this phenomenon suggests that the theory of ancient hatreds claimed by some historians, as George Kennan and Samuel Huntington, might be weak. Even during a war that was involving their countries, Serbs and Croats signed peacefully some contracts to exchange their private houses in front of a Catholic priest, an Orthodox monk, or a notary. This fact shows that in this area it exists a nationally mixed society and the personal identity of its inhabitants reveals its multi-layered and intricate essence, in line with the liquid modernity, theorized by Zygmunt Bauman. My thesis is that the phenomenon of the exchange of the houses demonstrates the feebleness of the ethnic enmity’s paradigm. The multicultural society and the existence of nuanced identities enhance the theory of living together expressed by Marina Blagojević Hughson promoting her idea of pozistorija (positive history). My goal is to oppose this idea to the stereotype/prejudice founded on the strength of ethnic diversities. The peculiarity of my dissertation is given also by the chosen approach, a mix between Oral History and Micro History. |
| Supervisor | Tokić Mate Nikola |
| Department | History MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2020/spinelli_marcoandrea.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2025, Central European University