In November 2020, scholars from around the world “gathered” – virtually, at least – to discuss the legacies of the Dayton Accords on Bosnia and Herzegovina in an online symposium co-hosted by the Yale Genocide Studies Program. Over the course of two days, scholars discussed the trajectory of politics and society since the war in the early 1990s, with specific panels focusing on themes like memorialization and transitional justice. Valentin Inzko (the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Hariz Halilović (Professor at the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne) each delivered a keynote address.
Many of the events’ contributors soudned warnings about the potency of the ongoing political conflict. Several echoed the theme that while the Dayton Accords had succeeded in ending violent conflict back in 1995, it left many of the strucutral issues and sources of tension unaddressed. The political processes that were supposed to have moderated the worst extremist impulses in teh politics of the region have instead served as a home for extremist ambitions. Despite the somber assessments of many commentators, there was nonetheless as sense of hope rooted in the community at large and evinced by that of the scholars present at the event itself.
Video from the event is now available, here.
A full schedule of the program is as follows:
Thursday, November 5
Panel I – Reflections on Bosnia since 1995 (10:00-11:30)
- Janine di Giovanni (Yale University; author; journalist)
- Peter Lippman (Independent human rights activist and researcher; author)
- Velma Šarić (Post-Conflict Resource Center, Sarajevo) and Chris Leslie (Photographer and filmmaker, Journey Productions film studio)
Panel II – Transitional Justice I (1:30-3:00)
- Tanya Domi (Columbia University), “The long arm of sexual violence in BiH: Denial, impunity & silence”
- Jasmin Mujanović (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung - Dialogue Southeast Europe), “The politics of Bosnian genocide denial”
- Markéta Slavková (Institute of Ethnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences), “Srebrenica’s recipes for survival: Food as a weapon of war and a tool of transitional justice”
Keynote I (3:30 – 4:30)
- Hariz Halilović (Professor of Anthropology and Principal Research Fellow at the Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University, Melbourne)
“25 years after Dayton: Quo vadis Bosnia?”
Friday, November 6
Panel III – Transitional Justice II (10:00-11:30) [NOTE: VIDEO NOT AVAILABLE]
- Ena Kazić (International University of Sarajevo), “Reparation for war crime victims in Bosnia and Herzegovina”
- Kenan Ademović (International University of Sarajevo), “Justice and Reconciliation: A Bosnian case study”
- Aliye Fatma Matarici (International University of Sarajevo), “War Childhood Museum in Sarajevo as a memorialization effort for transitional justice”
Keynote II (12:00-1:00)
- Valentin Inzko (High Representative, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Panel IV – Memorialization (1:30-3:00)
- Tomislav Pletenac (University of Zagreb), “25 years of Bosnian political unconscious: Dayton as signifier of repression”
- Adna Karamehić-Oates (Director of the Center for Bosnian Studies at Fontbonne University), “Preserving old memories in a new life: Bosnian diaspora in St. Louis”
- David Pettigrew (Southern Connecticut State University), “The tragic legacy of the Dayton Accords: 1995-2020”