Image of "Two Schools Under One Roof approach in Travnik, Bosnia
(José Salcedo Jiménez, 2023) https://balkandiskurs.com/en/2023/06/25/two-schools-under-one-roof/
Worldwide, the balkans are best known for two things: Basketball and Blaring Nationalism. While the latter is often exaggerated and inflated to orientalize (position as other-somehow eastern, exotic, and savage) the region and it’s people, an undercurrent of truth remains to this commonly held association. Ultranationalism disintegrates the Balkans from the inside out. Separatist and incomplete narratives are imbued in the people's collective understanding of one another through institutional hostile epistemologies, which exploit generational hatred and war trauma. The article “From Court to Classroom: Bringing Wartime Facts to Bosnia’s Schools” by Emina Dizdarevic, found on the digital news outlet Balkan Insight, sheds light on how systems--particularly education-- take advantage of commonly held nationalist biases to drive division between different ethnic groups during their youths and normalize revisionist history. Dizdarevic illuminates the reality that the manipulation of knowledge and restriction of truth ultimately prevent the Balkans from actualizing transitional justice.
Students in Bosnia are not afforded equal access to information in their education. These disparities exist in both explicit and implicit modes, both of which are fodder for ethnonationalist separatism. An overt manifestation of this pattern is demonstrated in some Bosnian public schools following a model of “two schools under one roof” (Hadžić, 2022) in which schools are ethnically segregated. Students are not allowed to interact with and learn from students of different ethnicities–ultimately preventing them from truly knowing the other. This segregation extends to courtyards, in which students are physically barred from socializing with peers from a different ethnic/religious group. The fences that separate recreational spaces build off of heuristics in that they encourage one to employ "cognitive shortcuts” (Nguyen, p.2) in assessing why they exist. The bars insinuate an animalistic caging, which evokes the viewer to see the subject behind the bars as in alignment with what society typically keeps behind them (animals, criminals, and dangerous)–– ultimately leading to dehumanization of the people on the other side. While this practice is less common currently than it was a decade ago, it has not been eliminated and continues in increasingly pernicious modes.
Hostile epistemology continues in the Bosnian education system through “three different educational systems…– Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian. All three systems have different learning methods and curricula, particularly on sensitive issues…their textbooks also differ” (Dizdarevic, 2023) as the nationalist conclusions students may reach about reality are not a moral failing resulting from inherent brutishness and stupidity, but rather the consequence of being consistently exposed to propaganda. Given that students from each ethnic group are presented with narratives that paint their ethnicity as a victim in conflicts, this creates a simultaneously hostile and stagnant environment in which accountability is null on all ends, and dignity for those targeted in genocide (overwhelmingly Bosnian muslim) is not preserved. While the results of this framework are immensely damaging, it is crucial to acknowledge that resistance is possible. It is likely students are doing their best to engage in their educations and are offering “good-faith efforts [to learn] … subverted by features of the world” (Nguyen, p.2) which are advantaged by cultivating division. Conflicting historical retellings told through nationalist lenses may remain commonplace due to students exhibiting an “exploitable vulnerability of…unquestioning attitude” (Nguyen p.18), in which they trust an institution to deliver on the social contract of providing information and knowledge. Recontextualizing good-faith to include questioning, as no authority is above thoughtful interrogation and should welcome it if its claims stand up to scrutiny, is a crucial step towards uncovering truth. In accomplishing this, it is necessary to expand the perspectives welcomed in a classroom setting beyond those of that may be dictated by legislators who have a stake in vitalizing nationalist tensions to maintain their political power. Working to include a comprehensive overview of marginalized voices in education directly combats the “testimonial injustice” (Fricker, 2007) of Bosnian muslim experiences and “judicially determined facts about the war” (Dizdarevic, 2023 ) being deemed uncredible and excluded from curricula. In providing students the opportunity to reflect on history, which provides all ethnicities space to express grief and address restitution in the form of a multimodal database detailing “personal testimonials from survivors of crimes as well as the relevant facts from [judicial] verdicts” (Dizdarevic, 2023) this builds a foundation for productive conversation. Ultimately, shifting towards an inquisitive, explorative, and collaborative model in learning history empowers students to focus on peace-building, remembrance, and forging a better future rather than deepening the very falsities that justified violence to begin with.
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