TY - JOUR
T1 - Life in an age of death
T2 - War and the river in Bosnia and Herzegovina
AU - Hromadžić, Azra
N1 - Funding Information:
This article is dedicated to my late father, Hasan Hromadžić—a man who was in love with his city—and to the people of Bihać. I am deeply appreciative of the time, care, and intellectual energy that the editor of the American Anthropologist, Elizabeth Chin, put into this project. I am also greatly indebted to the three anonymous reviewers whose detailed comments, pointed questions, and constructive critiques significantly improved this piece. A huge thank you to my friend Heather Michel Riddle for proofreading this piece, multiple times. Finally, I am grateful to the Humanities Center at Syracuse University for supporting the writing of this article.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the American Anthropological Association.
PY - 2022/6
Y1 - 2022/6
N2 - The majority of literature on wars understandably focuses on the horrific aspects of war, such as death, destruction, displacement, and trauma. In this article, however, I want to highlight that life in war is not only brutal and disastrous but also is in some respects deeply joyful and at times even fun. This requires that we portray the horrific experiences of death and destruction but that we also ask: What kind of life emerges in these injured landscapes? Guided by this question, I argue that we cannot understand what war looks like and feels like if we do not understand the relationship between humans and other than humans. More specifically, I show how during the Bosnian War, in the devastated city of ruins, Bihać, shared experiences of joy, fun, and togetherness (communitas) materialized between the town's people and the Una River. Swimming in the river together provided the people of Bihać with an opportunity to create moments of play and laughter between life and death. As people in Bihać explained, these were moment-by-moment living situations, where generations blended and where divisions, superiority, and pride were broken down, however temporarily, and new undifferentiated bonds among people were created—communitas.
AB - The majority of literature on wars understandably focuses on the horrific aspects of war, such as death, destruction, displacement, and trauma. In this article, however, I want to highlight that life in war is not only brutal and disastrous but also is in some respects deeply joyful and at times even fun. This requires that we portray the horrific experiences of death and destruction but that we also ask: What kind of life emerges in these injured landscapes? Guided by this question, I argue that we cannot understand what war looks like and feels like if we do not understand the relationship between humans and other than humans. More specifically, I show how during the Bosnian War, in the devastated city of ruins, Bihać, shared experiences of joy, fun, and togetherness (communitas) materialized between the town's people and the Una River. Swimming in the river together provided the people of Bihać with an opportunity to create moments of play and laughter between life and death. As people in Bihać explained, these were moment-by-moment living situations, where generations blended and where divisions, superiority, and pride were broken down, however temporarily, and new undifferentiated bonds among people were created—communitas.
KW - Bosnia and Herzegovina
KW - communitas
KW - humans
KW - other than humans
KW - river
KW - war
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U2 - 10.1111/aman.13710
DO - 10.1111/aman.13710
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85124603520
SN - 0002-7294
VL - 124
SP - 263
EP - 278
JO - American Anthropologist
JF - American Anthropologist
IS - 2
ER -