"Balkannibalism" : En mikrohistorisk studie av ögonvittnesskildringar från kriget i forna Jugoslavien under 1990-talet

• Main Author: Cera, Patrik
• Format: Others
• Language: Swedish
• Published: Högskolan för lärande och kommunikation, Högskolan i Jönköping, HLK, Ämnesforskning 2018
• Subjects: History; Historia
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-40533

The war in the Balkans is a conflict that we rarely learn about in school and that might have something to do with the fact that the conflict still can be seen as ”fresh” although it took place more than 20 years ago. During this time Sweden received about 100 000 immigrants from former Yugoslavia and there are a lot of them still living in Sweden as first och second generations of immigrants. This essay will examine four persons personal experience from the war from a micro historical perspective. The purpose of the essay is to highlight how different individuals own stories about the war can deepen the view given by the historical research. Is it possible to find similarities and differences in an American journalist Roy Gutman, a Slovenian writer Slavenka Drakulic, a twelve-year-old Bosnian girl Zlata Filipovic and a Swedish reporter Kjell Albin Abrahamsson’s journey in the war- filled Balkans? What emerged during the research of this study and the thematic analysis was that people from the Balkans had a more impartial view on the matter than those who came to the conflict from other countries. While Drakulic and Filipovic choose not to point out the ”bad guys” in the conflict Gutman and Abrahamsson had a more partial opinion. The study also showed that Drakulic and Filipovic, along with Abrahamsson viewed the conflict as a political one where the conflict emerged as a nationalistic clash between the former states of Yugoslavia. Gutman on the other hand pointed the conflict out as an ethnic one where the Serbs tried to get rid of other ethnical groups from serb-dominated areas.