Slow Peacebuilding in Bosnia and Herzegovina Mobilizing Memory to Shift Out of Postwar Liminality

This article examines how memory contributes to slow peacebuilding in postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Drawing on qualitative fieldwork and in-depth interviews with memory activists, individuals maintaining cross-ethnic relationships, and multiple generations within families, it investigates how memories accumulated through personal experience, family storytelling, and social activism challenge entrenched ethnonational narratives. The analysis highlights three pathways: activist strategies that reframe the past, everyday cross-ethnic interactions that prioritize relationships over “correct” memory, and intergenerational transmission that selectively preserves or omits wartime experiences. These mechanisms demonstrate how memory can be mobilized incrementally to reduce polarization, foster empathy, and cultivate dialogue as subtle resistance to divisive narratives. Intergenerational dialogues and cross-ethnic solidarities reveal memory’s potential to extend peacebuilding beyond immediate contexts. By situating grassroots practices alongside elite-level discourses, the research underscores how ordinary individuals negotiate complex pasts, offering practical insights for scholars and practitioners seeking to support reconciliation in divided societies

Cognitive reframing · Collective memory · Face (sociological concept) · Grassroots · Liminality · Negotiation · Peacebuilding · Perspective (graphical) · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Peacebuilding and International Security · Political Conflict and Governance