The silence of saying no. Narrating desertion in the Yugoslav wars

The silence of saying no. Narrating desertion in the Yugoslav wars

by Dr. Milica Popović, Sciences Po CERI

Placing the act of desertion and draft resistance in the frame of cultural memory studies and political sociology, the project aims to answer the question of how, in the interplay of public and private, memory narratives create a story of the deserter of the Yugoslav wars in today’s (post)Yugoslav space. Even 30 years after the wars in Yugoslavia started, an initial review of the academic literature shows that research on the topic is extremely scarce, calling for extensive pioneer archival research in judicial, NGO, and media reports. Some NGO reports claim that draft resistance in Serbia was as high as 40 to 90%; the official data of acquittals following amnesty laws go up to 26,000 cases. The archives of the Blinken OSA Archivum provide insight into media reporting, as well as the degree of attention the act of desertion received among national and international non-governmental organizations during the wars. Looking into the mnemonic community of deserters beyond the anti-war activists, the project aims to expand the cultural understanding of desertion in a post-conflict society, an understanding colored by dissent and resistance, shame, and silence.

This Visegrad Scholarship at OSA presentation can be followed in the Archivum, or online on: https://ceu-edu.zoom.us/j/92097409782?pwd=ci9LUG4rcXRyZHFKSHlrQ3pQakpWUT09