CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2026
| Author | McKelvey, Dana |
|---|---|
| Title | A Nation of Love: Pravda za Davida and Affective Resistance in Banja Luka |
| Summary | Through the affective lens of friendship, care, and love, this thesis opens with the case of the police murder of David Dragičević in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina and subsequent protests seeking justice under the collective Pravda za Davida. Beyond the protests themselves, the aftermath of David's murder reveals further questions of livelihood, corruption, and the imagined futures of the youth of Bosnia, and especially of Republika Srpska. Now led by a small, intimate group, Pravda za Davida is marked by processes of collective joy and mourning that in themselves encapsulate resistance. Beyond David's murder as a case of direct violence, the thesis also takes into account everyday Banjalukans' navigation of ambient corruption through practices that are not passive but rather imbued with agency and a demonstrable desire to develop relations of friendship and care against the neglectful state. These relations complexify young Banjalukans' decision whether to stay in Bosnia and resist, or to leave, placing them in a "bridge-like" state strung geographically in-between hegemons influencing Bosnia, but also temporally between the past and the future. |
| Supervisor | Rajaram, Prem Kumar |
| Department | Sociology PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2026/mckelvey_dana.pdf |
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