Sarajevo Under Siege - (Ethnography of Political Violence) by Ivana Mač & ek (Paperback)

About the Book

A richly detailed account of the lived experiences of ordinary people in this multicultural city between 1992 and 1996, during the war in the former Yugoslavia. Exploring how civilians coped with desperate circumstances, it argues that ethnonational divisions were the result rather than the cause of the war.

Book Synopsis

Sarajevo Under Siege offers a richly detailed account of the lived experiences of ordinary people in this multicultural city between 1992 and 1996, during the war in the former Yugoslavia. Moving beyond the shelling, snipers, and shortages, it documents the coping strategies people adopted and the creativity with which they responded to desperate circumstances.

Ivana Maček, an anthropologist who grew up in the former Yugoslavia, argues that the division of Bosnians into antagonistic ethnonational groups was the result rather than the cause of the war, a view that was not only generally assumed by Americans and Western Europeans but also deliberately promoted by Serb, Croat, and Muslim nationalist politicians. Nationalist political leaders appealed to ethnoreligious loyalties and sowed mistrust between people who had previously coexisted peacefully in Sarajevo. Normality dissolved and relationships were reconstructed as individuals tried to ascertain who could be trusted.

Over time, this ethnography shows, Sarajevans shifted from the shock they felt as civilians in a city under siege into a "soldier" way of thinking, siding with one group and blaming others for the war. Eventually, they became disillusioned with these simple rationales for suffering and adopted a "deserter" stance, trying to take moral responsibility for their own choices in spite of their powerless position. The coexistence of these contradictory views reflects the confusion Sarajevans felt in the midst of a chaotic war.

Maček respects the subjectivity of her informants and gives Sarajevans' own words a dignity that is not always accorded the viewpoints of ordinary citizens. Combining scholarship on political violence with firsthand observation and telling insights, this book is of vital importance to people who seek to understand the dynamics of armed conflict along ethnonational lines both within and beyond Europe.

Review Quotes

"Maček succeeds in her aim of offering an anthropological perspective on war, telling the stories of Sarajevans during the siege with clarity, empathy, and intellectual integrity. . . . Maček's study represents a valuable contribution to the study of war in general and the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia in particular."-- "Slavic Review"

"Original, important, and exciting. Most ethnographies of war aren't actually conducted at the epicenters of war, nor even on the front lines. Maček's is. She stands among a handful of scholars who combine true ethnography of war with enduring commitment to both academic and personal ethics."-- "Carolyn Nordstrom, University of Notre Dame"

About the Author

Ivana Macek is Associated Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Senior Lecturer in Genocide Studies at the Hugo Valentin Center of Uppsala University, Sweden.