Psychosocial Notebook - IOM Publications - International ...

Chapter 1 • Silvia Salvatici
and nuns) and several families of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). In
the countryside one Serbian village (Gorazdevac), remains, and is populated
by around 12,000 people. As in the other Serbian enclaves, freedom
of movement is highly restricted, though weekly bus transport to Belgrade
is provided.
In Mitrovica, which is divided into two zones by a river, the North is
Serbian, and only a few Albanian families still live there. Many of the
inhabitants of Northern Mitrovica come from all over Kosovo, while part
of the people originally living in this area have since moved to Serbia.
South of the river lies the Albanian zone. The area houses most of the families
who lived above the river before the war. Mitrovica is the region
where tensions between the two communities most often degenerate into
violence.
The interviews were gathered in these towns, as well as in villages. The
subjects interviewed were chosen to represent a wide variety in terms of
age, social background and gender. The context in which the conversations
took place also differed. Interviews were often conducted at home, but also
at the work place, in public areas, and in schools. Some of the subjects
were interviewed more than once, sometimes first individually, then with
a group of friends, family or classmates. These interviews of more than
one subject were different, in that they allowed the relational dynamic of
a group to emerge. Particularly interesting were the conversations we had
with families. Usually, especially amongst Albanian Kosovars, it was the
recognized head of the family (a grandfather or the oldest brother), who
spoke for the entire group. The other relatives only answered questions
addressed directly to them and this, usually, to confirm what the head of
the family had previously said. The women’s position was generally marginal:
during interviews, they usually sat outside the circle of conversation,
or were not present at all. The only exception to this rule was an
elderly grandmother who had outlived the grandfather of the family. This
tendency to attribute the role of speaker to a specific member also extended
to informal groups, so that feelings and opinions recognized by all
members could be expressed in one voice.
The interviews themselves were usually set up through a network of
relationships that formed gradually. In many cases, connections were made
through friends or relatives of the subjects, and interviewers met with
interviewees more than once. Coffee, tea, and the exchange of gifts often
preceded the interviews. This procedure was chosen as the most suitable
to create an atmosphere of trust and confidence, as a necessary first step in
changing the rhythm of interview into that of flowing conversation. The
results of the project comprise not only the materials thus gathered in the
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