An inquiry into the causes and nature of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. "The essays in Neighbors at War present an important combination of social history and on-the-ground local investigation. By deconstructing the popular phrase 'age-old ethnic hatreds,' the book successfully challenges the concept as a cause of the war and, instead, analyzes it as an ideological tool in the war." —Carol Silverman, University of Oregon
Before former Yugoslavia was divided by wars, and despite a complex history of previous conflict, its diverse ethnic inhabitants lived side by side and regularly cooperated in daily life. This collection seeks to explain how former neighbors became enemies, with the hope that understanding what drove these peoples apart will help us discover ways for them to again coexist in peace.
Contributors analyze political cartoons, the arts, and visual media, and employ psychiatric, legal, historic, and biographic approaches to provide understandings of the conflicts in Yugoslavia. Though many of the chapters deal with specific regional events and processes, they are less focused on politics than on how values and attitudes are altered and new identities formed. Thus, the volume considers questions sparsely covered in recent publications, goes beyond typical journalistic accounts, and should remain relevant for years to come.
This book originated as a special issue of the Anthropology of East Europe Review. Most contributors to that issue revised their chapters for this collection, and new chapters have been added. Essays range across all of former Yugoslavia, emphasizing the variability and diversity of ethnic relations throughout recent history.
Contributors are from the Balkans and Western Europe as well as North America. The collection is sharpened as some contributors take expressly partisan perspectives. However, the debate is framed in order to encourage mutual understanding through cross-cultural analysis.
Contributors names:
Contributors are Mart Bax, Brian C. Bennett, Nikolai Botev, Bette Denich, Elinor Despalatovic, Hannes Grandits, Joel M. Halpern, E. A. Hammel, Robert M. Hayden, Goran Jovanovic, Eva V. Huseby-Darvas, David A. Kideckel, Mirjana Lausevic, Lynn D. Maners, Julie Mertus, Robert Gary Minnich, Rajko Mursic, Edit Petrovic, Christian Promitzer, Mirjana Prosic-Dvornic, Janet Reineck, Jonathan Matthew Schwartz, Andrei Simic, and Stevan M. Weine.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
About the Author
Joel M. Halpern is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts. He is the author of A Serbian Village (Harper and Row, 1967) and, most recently, The Thin Veneer: The Peoples of Bosnia and Their Disappearing Cultural Heritage (1997).
David A. Kideckel is Professor and Chair of Anthropology at Central Connecticut State University and, among other articles and edited volumes on East European life, the author of The Solitude of Collectivism: Romanian Villagers to the Revolution and Beyond (Cornell, 1993). --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
