Sarajevo Essays

Rusmir Mahmutcehajic

Description

One of Bosnia's leading intellectuals explains the Bosnian experience by critiquing the politics and ideology that brought about the great destruction—both material and spiritual—of Bosnia and Herzegovina. These incisive and theologically profound essays address the confrontation between the West and Islam as the author explores the realm of humanity's long-standing search for the roots of evil in the dual nature of mankind to gain insight into ways of achieving peace. By drawing on the Bosnian situation, the author explores questions of identity and otherness, knowledge and transcendence, authority and authoritarianism, and tradition and fundamentalism, and he argues for a reconciliation between modernity and tradition for the benefit of modern coexistence, not just in his native land but throughout the world.

Preface

1. The Question

2. Tolerance, Ideology, and Tradition

3. Ignorance

4. Paradigm

5. Europe's "Others"

6. The Extremes

7. In Bosnia or Against It?

8. On the Self

9. Whence and Whither?

10. The Decline of Modernity

11. Changing the State of Knowledge

12. At the Turn of the Millennium

Afterword

Notes

Bibliography

Index of Names and Terms

By the Same Author

Sujets

• International relations
• History of Europe
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791487303
• Langue: English

Extrait

Sarajevo Essays

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Sarajevo Essays

Politics, Ideology, and Tradition

Rusmir Mahmutcehajic

State University of New York Press

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2003 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

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Library of Congress Control Number

Mahmutcehajic, Rusmir, 1948– [Sarajevski eseji. English] Sarajevo essays : politics, ideology, and tradition / by Rusmir Mahmutcehajic. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-7914-5637-4 (alk. paper)—ISBN 0-7914-5638-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Yugoslav War, 1991–1995—Bosnia and Hercegovina. 2. Bosnia and Hercegovina— Ethnic relations. 3. Bosnia and Hercegovina—Politics and government—1992– I. Title.

DR1673 .M334613 949.703—dc21

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2003

2002066782

In memory of the elderly ladies from my town who have died in exile and of the roofs that are no longer there

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Contents

Preface 1 The Question 2 Tolerance, Ideology, and Tradition 3 Ignorance 4 Paradigm 5 Europe’s “Others” 6 The Extremes 7 In Bosnia or Against It? 8 On the Self 9 Whence and Whither? 10 The Decline of Modernity 11 Changing the State of Knowledge 12 At the Turn of the Millennium Afterword Notes Bibliography

Index of Names and Terms

By the Same Author

ix 1 27 43 63 83 99 117 133 149 169 189 205 231 237 267 275 287

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Preface

Sarajevo’s experience at the turn of the millennium is what unites the essays in this book. Whether their contents are presented in Vienna, Korbula, Cracow, Budapest, Warsaw, London, Verona, or Sarajevo, the same question always arises: the question of human relationships, of the contrast between confi- dence and the unknown variable of trust—that is, between the mediating ef- fect of shared belief and the dark dimension of liberty, where shared belief is absent. Bosnia is not simply a unique phenomenon in the totality of European experience: it also encapsulates the dilemma of the modern heritage of tradi- tion, and its solution. In Bosnia, tradition comes face-to-face with liberalism and secularism, which offer themselves as answers to all future questions. Torn between the two discourses of liberalism and of tradition, Bosnia has become a tragic symbol of the defeat and collapse of Communist ideology, and the tri- umph of liberalism. However, it did not acquire this status merely by becom- ing an arena for dialogue about the adjudged relationship between these two sides, two offshoots from the same source. For war was waged against Bosnia. All the tragic and painful experiences Europe has known came together in Bosnia: killings and expulsions, humiliation and destruction, ignorance and deception. The country is covered with the graves of the dead. Of those who survived, most have known bitter experiences, were driven from their homes or incarcerated in concentration camps. And this took place before the eyes of a world that prided itself on having attained the age of democracy and sci- ence, of technology and education. In the face of these killings, words and deeds alike were characterized by ignorance and pathos: they could give no answers, even after the first phase of the war was over, and war by other means had begun. The participants in, and witnesses to the drama are still trapped in the arena of their own experience, which they will pass on to future generations. Tied to the past and, willy-nilly, part of the future, they have no sense of

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