Chapter 5 in Chuing Prudence Chou and Jonathan Spangler (eds.), Cultural and Educational Exchanges in Rival States, Singapore: Springer, 2017, forthcoming.
Abstract
This chapter focusses on experiences with and perspectives on cultural and educational exchange at the secondary school level between rival communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Although twenty years have passed since the country’s 1992-1995 war, the majority of BiH children and youth are still socialised in mono-ethnic schools using ethnically biased curricula that increase their vulnerability to interethnic prejudice and divisive political ideologies. Conceptualizing cultural and educational exchange within Novelli, Lopes Cardozo and Smith’s (2015) framework known as the ‘4Rs’ of sustainable and just peace (i.e. recognition, redistribution, representation and reconciliation), I examine the strengths and limitations of exchange for improving interethnic relations in this post-conflict society. The chapter draws on empirical data collected in 2014 from 60 semi-structured interviews with education authorities, university and NGO teacher educators, secondary school directors and social science teachers from the cities of (majority Serb) Banja Luka, (majority Bosniak) Sarajevo and (divided Croat-Bosniak) Mostar, as well as from focus groups with 60 students aged 16 to 18 years from five secondary schools. Analysis highlights three benefits associated with exchange initiatives (i.e. economic and civic advancement, critical reflexivity, and intergroup peacebuilding), as well as three risks (i.e. ‘brain drain’, peacebuilding elitism, and misrepresentation of contemporary conflict drivers). Examples of exchange initiatives are found to address one or another, but rarely all, of the ‘4Rs’. The chapter concludes that in order to contribute more effectively to positive relations between rivals, strategic efforts must be made to incorporate all four ‘Rs’ into exchange agendas and practices.
Abstract
This chapter focusses on experiences with and perspectives on cultural and educational exchange at the secondary school level between rival communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Although twenty years have passed since the country’s 1992-1995 war, the majority of BiH children and youth are still socialised in mono-ethnic schools using ethnically biased curricula that increase their vulnerability to interethnic prejudice and divisive political ideologies. Conceptualizing cultural and educational exchange within Novelli, Lopes Cardozo and Smith’s (2015) framework known as the ‘4Rs’ of sustainable and just peace (i.e. recognition, redistribution, representation and reconciliation), I examine the strengths and limitations of exchange for improving interethnic relations in this post-conflict society. The chapter draws on empirical data collected in 2014 from 60 semi-structured interviews with education authorities, university and NGO teacher educators, secondary school directors and social science teachers from the cities of (majority Serb) Banja Luka, (majority Bosniak) Sarajevo and (divided Croat-Bosniak) Mostar, as well as from focus groups with 60 students aged 16 to 18 years from five secondary schools. Analysis highlights three benefits associated with exchange initiatives (i.e. economic and civic advancement, critical reflexivity, and intergroup peacebuilding), as well as three risks (i.e. ‘brain drain’, peacebuilding elitism, and misrepresentation of contemporary conflict drivers). Examples of exchange initiatives are found to address one or another, but rarely all, of the ‘4Rs’. The chapter concludes that in order to contribute more effectively to positive relations between rivals, strategic efforts must be made to incorporate all four ‘Rs’ into exchange agendas and practices.