The memorial at Srebrenica: Gender and the social meanings of collective memory in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Abstract

This research examines the way in which the collective memory of the 1990s conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina has been established and preserved at the memorial to genocide at Srebrenica. Based on extensive fieldwork at the site and in other regions of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the study explores the ways in which gender is represented at Srebrenica in the narratives and texts that commemorate Serbian aggression against Bosnian Muslim populations. Within the structures of memory that Srebrenica represents, the findings reveal the ways in which fathers and sons are recalled as victims of Serbian genocide and the importance of maternal tropes of memory for post-war nation building. Furthermore, the study reveals the absence of a rape discourse in the memorialization of war and genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the challenges of commemorating sexual atrocities in the aftermath of mass trauma. The work that is presented here contributes to the emerging literature on gender and collective memory and the ways in which women’s experiences are represented in structures of memorialization.