Development, Balkanism, and new (im)moralities in postsocialist Bosnia-Herzegovina

Bibliographic Data

ID2939637
AuthorsF Tarabusi (0000-0002-8564-909X, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume2020
Issue87
Pages75-88
Publication date2020-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFocaal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0920-1297 • E-ISSN: 1558-5263
PublisherBerghahn Books (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.3167/fcl.2020.870106
OpenAlexW3021452420
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited22

Despite considerable analysis of development policies in postwar Bosnia-Herzegovina, local-internationals encounters have received less attention. In an attempt to fill this gap, this article traces the discursive processes through which development professionals frame their narratives about Bosnian society, and in turn, how its inhabitants experience the internationals staying in the country. Applying Maria Todorova's framework, I show how Western "expatriates" tend to incorporate the Balkans' liminality into their social constructs to depoliticize development practices. On the other hand, I approach emic understandings of Europeanness and Balkanism as a situationally embedded and contested process that comes into play to (re)draw social and moral boundaries in Bosnian society. I conclude by considering local-international encounters as a privileged site for exploring the postsocialist state but also new political subjectivities in contemporary Bosnia

Bosnian · Communitas · Emic and etic · Legitimation · Liminality · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Anthropology · Balkans: History, Politics, Society · Gender Studies · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Turkey's Politics and Society

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