The Dead, the War, and Ethnic Identity: Ghost Narratives in Post-War Srebrenica

Abstract

Based on field research, this article studies the role of ghost narratives about the dead killed in the genocide of the Bosniak people in Srebrenica. It focuses on three clusters of belief narratives spread among the Bosniaks: narratives about ghosts of the unburied dead; narratives about the dead buried in the cemetery for the victims of the massacre; and narratives about a murdered imam appearing at the site of a demolished mosque, calling the faithful to prayer. The article argues that these stories are the effects of the persistent denial of the genocide by the Serbian population and of a strong sense among Bosniaks that justice has not yet been properly restored nor the perpetrators adequately punished. Ghost narratives play a significant role in the war discourse: through them, the Bosniak inhabitants of the Srebrenica region, lacking social and political power in the Serb-dominated territory, are able to articulate and maintain their memory of the massacre, reclaim the space, acquire some sense of control over the situation, and thus, ultimately, acquire some empowerment. Moreover, ghost legends occasionally prove vehicles for the transmission of ideological messages in the post-war identity processes of the Bosniak ethnic community in Bosnia and Herzegovina.