“Make up Your Own Mind about Gavrilo!”. On Remembering, Silence and Doubts in Sarajevo

Abstract

Drawing on recent scholarly critiques of dominant Balkanist understandings of memory
work in post-war societies and focusing on individuals as active managers of transmitted
memories, this article illustrates the dynamic nature of how the Sarajevo assassination and
Gavrilo Princip are remembered in Sarajevo. It offers ethnographic insights into the everyday
effects of power struggles between popular and official memories and responds to
calls to explore affective states brought about by the politicization of the past in particular
settings. Without denying the importance of memory in post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina, it
nevertheless points to the relevance of exploring uncertainty, doubts, disinterest, and silences
for ethnographic research on memorialization processes in post-conflict societies
and beyond.