Why alternative memory and place-making practices in divided cities matter.

Abstract

The clear aim of this special issue is to move beyond ethno-national divisions and to show how Mostar – like other ‘divided’ cities – is more than its conflict, nationalism and ultimately its division. However, this confronts us with a paradox: how do we push research beyond ethno-national divisions while simultaneously acknowledging that those same divisions are the starting point for the contributors’ analysis? In this intervention piece I offer one possible way to address this paradox by focusing on practices of place-making and drawing on the repositioning of memories in the city. This allows me to elaborate on a specific focus offered by the papers in this special issue encountered in practices of place-making, sense-making and memory-making. By taking this angle I wish to explore the particularities of the Mostar case but at the same time to go beyond it and tackle issues that are likely to affect other cities sharing a similar fate. In order to do so, I will build on the articles’ findings as well as on my own findings from my fieldwork in Mostar from 2005 until 2008, followed by several revisits.