Hidden religious minorities in rural areas of post-socialist countries - the example of rural Adventist communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

The subject of this paper are the Adventist communities present in the rural areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which are mainly concentrated along the northern border of the mentioned country. The text is based on the field work that was carried out in 2023. The research included the villages: Laminci, Kukulje, Nožičko and Grabik-Ilova, and in addition to visiting the mentioned places, it also included conversations with members of the Christian Adventist Church there. In the first part of the paper, general information about the specificities of neo-Protestant communities, as well as the place they occupy in the religiously diverse Bosnian and Herzegovinian society, is presented. The second part of the work, which directly concerns the Adventists, contains the data on the historical development of the aforementioned rural communities, as well as the upbringing, life and current state of individuals who are their members, or were in the past. Based on the narratives of ten interlocutors, born in Adventist families, as well as additional material from their private “archives” (photos, memoirs, brochures and diaries), this text will try to convey to the readers how the various events that took place in the wider socio-political plan during the previous few decades influenced these once numerous and quite lively Adventist “communes” to reach the state of “living on a life-support system”.

Keywords

• adventists
• bosnia and herzegovina
• rural communities
• religious minorities