Bosnia and Herzegovina: Post-Colonial and Post-Conflict Heritage of a European State

The international interdisciplinary conference Bosnia and Herzegovina: Post-Colonial and Post-Conflict Heritage of a European State is organized by the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences in cooperation with the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Prague Security Studies Institute. It takes place on November 10, 2022 in Vila Lanna. 

Programme     Report

Bosnia and Herzegovina had a specific position in the wider European context already in the second half of the 19th century, as Austria-Hungary's de facto only colony (1878-1918) and a land with a high proportion of autochthonous Muslim inhabitants. Its multiethnic, multiconfessional and multicultural character represented Bosnia and Herzegovina's most prominent feature in interwar as well as socialist Yugoslavia. Many current problems the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina are facing have historical roots or analogies, but there are also some notable discontinuities. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a state officially built upon key European values, especially the coexistence of diverse nationalities, cultures and religions. On the other hand, the possibility of multiethnic coexistence has also been seriously put into question in the recent past.

The international conference “Bosnia and Herzegovina: Post-Colonial and Post-Conflict Heritage of a European State” attempts to provide an opportunity for an exchange of the latest research results and ideas among top scholars from different countries and disciplines (especially history, political science, anthropology, media and religious studies) who have been focusing on various aspects of the country's past and present. We would like to approach, analyze and contextualize selected key problems of Bosnian and Herzegovinian society (heritage of the Ottoman past / colonial rule / Yugoslav period, nationalism, multiethnic and multiconfessional coexistence, coming into terms with genocide, modernization, Europeanization etc.) in a broader historical perspective from the second half of the 19th century until present.

Photos: Jaroslav Novotný (Historický ústav AV ČR), Markéta Slavková, Martina Mlinarević