From UN Safe Havens to Sacred Spaces: Contributions of Religious Sodalities to Peace Building and Reconciliation in Post-War Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

Bosnian academic Muhammed Filipovic has astutely remarked, ‘Literature has caused more evil to Bosnia than all the occupational armies’ (Murvar, 1989: 141). His prescient comment draws back the curtain on the Balkan mythic consciousness, revealing a side to recent conflicts little known in Western Europe and the Americas. A closer look at the religio-mythical elements of the conflict reveals the intrinsic relationship religion has to national identity formation and differentiation, and provides a framework for analysing both the sources and resolutions of the conflict. After an overview of the international community’s largely structural approach to humanitarian intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), this essay seeks to articulate a contextual understanding of the Balkan conflict by allowing the mythological self-understanding of the Serbian nation to surface. A survey of two national myths will expose how the employment of religio-mythical elements from folk literature and epic poetry directly abetted the conflict. Then an alternative treatment of the myths as meta-narratives of identity and alterity will demonstrate how the authenticity of personal narrative within the framework of religious sodalities can successfully counter the exclusive elements of militant nationalism. Finally, the essay will conclude with examples of how the religious sodalities are creating sacred spaces of identity towards peacemaking and reconciliation.