ETHNOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

Abstract

The paper presents a brief overview of the situation of ethnology and anthropology in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from theirs constitution as disciplines to the contemporary period, in various socio-economic systems and cultural frameworks, as well as, about some indications how they may develop in further. Previous researches in this area, come mostly from authors’ pen from “developed” countries, as well as domestic authors who have been educated and trained at the local universities. Their focus is largely based on issues related to war conflicts and post-war social reality. However, before the beginning of the war in 1992, the Department of Ethnology of the National Museum in Sarajevo directed its attention more to the traditional culture of certain “ethnographic micro-regions”. Due to the connection with the museum but not with the academic institutions, ethnology in Bosnia and Herzegovina did not experience anthropological transformation that affected Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia during the seventies of the last century. Several attempts to establish it at universities did not bear fruit. How this discipline will develop further is a big question. However, its further shaping has the potential to examine past and present cultural and social processes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this way, one gets an insight into how the complexity of this area can in the future be an incentive to some future research and developments.

Keywords

• ethnology and anthropology, Bosnia and Herzegovina, history of discipline, ethnological and anthropological research, development perspective