Mediacentar, Sarajevo: (Un)covering Karadžic: a case study on media (re)production of national ideologies in the former Yugoslavia (February 2009 - January 2011)

National ideologies in the media of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia are the focus of this project, with an initial assumption being that the ethno-national ideas are the dominant social ideologies through the lens of which the media in the region present and explain controversial social events. The regional team of researchers aims to address the following questions: what are the main structural differences between the national ideologies reproduced in different media and different countries? Are certain media in certain countries more inclined to reproduce national ideologies than others? Do the media owned by foreign corporations differ in this respect from nationally owned media organisations? The study will focus on several controversial cases, which provoke divergent emotions in different national groups. Above all it refers to the way of reporting about cases such as the arrest of Radovan Karadzic, as well as other reporting about war crime proceedings. The selection of three countries in the region (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia) as case studies will provide the base for comparative analysis, given that these countries were confronted with a number of different conflicts and very similar problems during the transition process.
Contact: Mr Amer Dzihana (amer@media.ba)

Faculty of Philosophy, University of Tuzla: Construing cultural identity and key developments within modern national projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina (multidisciplinary perspectives from media and cultural production) (May 2009 - April 2011)

This interdisciplinary research project aims to deal with contemporary processes of cultural identity formation in Bosnia and Herzegovina in relation to the tendencies of modernisation, transition and conflict at particularly poignant moments in the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Through a dialogue of two thematic/methodological standpoints, media/cultural studies and literature, it also intends to shed light on particularly important factors and circumstances, under which multiple cultural/political identities have been formed in modern Bosnian society. The relevance of this research project is to explain continuities and discontinuities amongst various instances of 'Bosnian transitions' in modern times, which are preoccupied with the question of identity, trauma, loss and politics of past/present/future in a wider public sphere.
Contact: Ms Jasmina Husanovic (jasminamak@gmail.com), Mr Azem Kozar (azem.kozar@untz.ba), Ms Azra Verlasevic (azra.verlasevic@untz.ba), Ms Vedada Barakovic (vedada.b@bih.net.ba)

Centre for Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Studies, University of Sarajevo: State or nation building? Visions, controversies and perspectives of political transition in Bosnia and Herzegovina (April 2009 - October 2010)

The project aims to research the background of transitional state-building problems in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina. In particular, it aims to tackle a particular categorical conflation of two distinct concepts applied in the transition process, namely nation-building and state-building. It is assumed that this conflation hampers the creation of sustainable democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina and perpetuates the dominance of ethno-politics over the democratic rule of law. In other words, the research aims to explore the programmatic background of the systemic political deadlock that has been lingering in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1995. While believing that the deadlock is generated by the existing political framework, the research intends to narrow the scope of programmatic causes and scrutinise more closely the ways nation- and state-building have been understood and applied by the main political stakeholders in the country, the local political elite and the international community. We believe that a different understanding and conflation of these concepts lies at the heart of the failure to establish democratic capacities of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a result of the research, we will try to offer new perspectives on interpreting, advocating and acting upon the transition of Bosnia and Herzegovina into a viable democracy.
Contact: Mr Davor Marko (davor@cps.edu.ba)

Centar za kulturni i socijalni popravak (CKSP), Banja Luka: Construction of national and ethnic identities among youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina (February 2010 - June 2011)

Post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) with its rather peculiar state structure (two entities, three constitutive peoples, tripartite rotating presidency) appears like a failed state. Criticism both from home and abroad was voiced claiming that ideologies and power along ethnic lines prevent BiH from becoming a functional state. Discourses expressing such apparently irreconcilable attitudes in an atmosphere of fear and distrust have often been used to secure the status quo, while little is known about resistant, non-acquiescent voices expressing different attitudes. As BiH increasingly becomes a divided society, it is relevant to enquire how youth as future social agents represent, legitimise, and challenge their ethnic and national identities in the context of the dominant nationalist public sphere. To this effect, we will investigate both youth attitudes nationwide and the media as an important part of BiH's public life. We aim at exploring two different levels of social life, a public and a private one, and whether they coincide or are contradictory. Our study will conceptualise the main antagonisms through an interdisciplinary, multi-method study of media frames and discourses shaping ethnic/national identification (media research: quantitative content and qualitative critical discourse analysis), private discourses on the perception of ethnic/national identity obtained from focus groups (linguistic anthropology: qualitative critical discourse analysis), and an extensive survey of attitudes of youngsters (socio-psychological research, quantitative analysis).
Project leader and contact: Ms Danijela Majstorovic (danijela@blic.net; majstorovic.danijela@gmail.com)