Revealing everyday resistance during the war in Bosnia: how did ordinary people's actions disrupt conflict and promote peace?

The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995 was characterized by the mobilization of ordinary people to antagonism and violence towards people of other ethnicities. However, many ordinary people resisted testimonies show how their resistance was entwined with their everyday lives and personal experience of war. Exposing everyday resistance has the potential to shape collective memory positively in societies in which ethnicity remains politically divisive. The importance of local agency in peace-building has been recognised and there has been some attention to the few instances of organised resistance in the Yugoslav war, the everyday realm remains partially obscured. My research will reveal it using eyewitness testimony, including contemporary television footage filmed by the UN in 1994-5. I build on recent work by Roger Mac Ginty to bring a structured analysis to the everyday actions and experience of ordinary people in divided societies to understand how this might promote peace or disrupt conflict. I will extend this research agenda by seeking to further develop an analytical framework and apply it using eyewitness testimonies and original historical ethnographic research. My research aims not only to enhance understanding of Bosnia's past but also to provide valuable capital in shaping its future. It would extend a research agenda connecting experience of war-time resistance in ethnic or civil conflict with future peace-building efforts.