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cized politically, and this was done without any regard to differentiations
and deviations [e.g. regarding the many mixed marriages or the former
moves of populations]. …ethnicity very often is nothing but the friendly
and seductive mask of a fierce and narrow nationalism. It would be a
simplification if the idea of cemented ethnicity were to be reduced to the
militant excesses around Sarajevo and in other areas of war. The cruel
strategy of “purification” is, probably, only the worsening of a widespread
idea. And one should ask if sciences like ethnology have not contributed
to paving the way for this view and – more importantly – if
scholars, to a certain degree, have not accepted the ethnicization of
people. Even in nations with a rather homogeneous population, there are
always people of other ethnic backgrounds (Bausinger, 1996: 289).
I carry these questions with me, throughout my analyses of stories told by
the interviewees who have identified themselves, and have been identified
by others, in one of two groups: Kosovar Albanians and Kosovar Romany.
Between memories
and the wish to forget
Psychosocial Notebook, Volume 2, October 2001
Memory is a complex sphere shaped by individual memories, forgetting,
oblivion and silence. These terms are not synonymous and can also carry
quite different meanings according to the language in which they are
uttered. 1 The debate on the subject stresses that memory is a battlefield
that, according to different geographical and historical locations, requires
specific strategies, subjects and institutions in the construction of what is
remembered and what is forgotten, as well as in the meanings associated
with each.
Nationalism is the main ideology and political project we are encountering
in this research. The conflict we ask about in our interviews has strong
nationalistic roots. This means that situations of the past, fabricated by a
given group for itself, are reduced to their essence, which then lends legitimacy
to “ethnic and national identities”. In discussing memory throughout
the following pages, we are aware of the contradictory meanings and
political implications that are also on stage. Several books have been written
about the vital use of the past in constructing, for instance, Serbian and
Croatian nationalism. In the case of these nations, World War II becomes
the genesis of their two separate and clearly antagonistic narrations, as was
described by R. Jambresic Kirin:
While the memory of World War II in Croatia was evaluated with respect
to the need for national reconciliation and the need for admission of
Communist crimes against prisoners of war and civilians, in Serbia the
memory of the same period was largely connected with the repeated
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