Depoliticization .“from Below.”: Everyday Humanitarianism in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Depoliticization .“from Below.”: Everyday Humanitarianism in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Author(s): Čarna BrkovićSubject(s): Military policy, Welfare systems, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Culture and social structure , Family and social welfare, Nationalism Studies, Welfare services, Inter-Ethnic Relations
Published by: Institut za etnologiju i folkloristiku
Keywords: humanitarianism; depoliticization; redistribution; recognition; Bosnia and Herzegovina;
Summary/Abstract: This paper explores how the boundary between humanitarianism and politics was reproduced in the everyday life in a Bosnia and Herzegovina town. It addresses the use of (post)Yugoslav ideas about humaneness as an apolitical core surrounded by layers of socio-political identities in the course of humanitarian actions. The paper suggests that the depoliticization of humanitarian actions allowed people to distance themselves from the hegemonic understanding of politics as interest-oriented man- agement of ethno-national groups. Those who needed humanitarian help relied on depoliticizing discourses of humaneness to assert their (political) claims to survival and wellbeing in the context marked by the dominance of ethno-nationalist rhetoric.
Journal: Narodna umjetnost - Hrvatski časopis za etnologiju i folkloristiku
- Issue Year: 53/2016
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 97-115
- Page Count: 19
- Language: English
