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Misunderstanding the Other and Shy Signs of Openness: Discourse on the 1992-1995 War in the Current Bosniak and Bosnian Serb Media

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with how the 1990s civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina was represented in the media that currently remain influential among Bosniaks and Bosnian Serbs. Critical discourse analysis is used both as a theoretical approach to discourse and as a methodological tool for its study. In the analysis, the civil war discourse in Bosniak and Bosnian Serb media is represented by two daily newspapers on each side. The analysis reveals mutually incompatible representations of the causes and nature of the war, the prevailing absence of dialogue, and the unwillingness of each side to consider the other side’s war victims. Looking at more specific topics, a number of discourses are identified on both sides, among which some present the potential for dialogue with alternative representations. The discourses are interpreted through Bosniak and Bosnian Serb nationalist ideologies. The findings might support further research on the relation between the media and nationalism and on the ongoing Bosnian political dispute concerning the desired nature of the state.

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