SNAKLAB Regensburg Southeastern Europe Research Seminars

Emina Zoletić (University of Warsaw, Faculty of Sociology, Centre for research on social memories) will give a talk on…

“The Social Life of War Memories: Generalization, Moral obligations, Silences and intergenerational narratives in Bosnian families”

Time: 4-6 pm

Venue: IOS, R 017, Landshuter Straße 4, 93047 Regensburg

Abstract: Intergenerational transmission of war memories is not merely a matter of recounting the past; it is a complex social process that unfolds through narratives, silences, embodied practices, artifacts, and spatial encounters. In Bosnian families affected by the 1992–1995 war, the past is continually negotiated through everyday life, ritual, and relational dynamics that elevate certain experiences while suppressing or reframing others. This talk argues that generalization, moral obligation, and silence are complementary mechanisms through which families transform individual and collective wartime experiences into transgenerational narratives of identity, belonging, and moral orientation.

The central part of this talk examines intergenerational war memories and wartime migration in Bosnian and diasporic families across several locations in the European Union, the United States, and Sarajevo. Attending to both local and transnational dimensions, this talk shows how intergenerational transmission of memory is processed, experienced, and activated by participants during several highly charged political conjunctures.

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