Neighbors at War
Anthropological Perspectives on Yugoslav Ethnicity, Culture, and History
Published on 1. July 2000
Book
Hardback
488 pages
978-0-271-01978-9 (ISBN)
Description
Before the former Yugoslavia was divided by wars, its inhabitants successfully lived side by side in peace. This collection seeks to explain how former neighbors became enemies, with the hope that understanding what drove these peoples apart will help us discover ways for them to coexist in peace again.
Contributors analyze political cartoons, psychiatry, the arts, visual media, and law to present a diversity of views on the conflicts in Yugoslavia. While the chapters in this book deal with regional developments, they are not so much focused on politics as they are concerned with how values and attitudes are altered and new identities formed. Thus, this volume goes beyond recent journalistic accounts and should remain relevant for years to come.
This book began as a special issue of the journal Anthropology of East Europe Review. Most of the contributors to that issue have revised their chapters for this collection, and new chapters have been added, including one on the recent war in Kosovo. Essays range across all of former Yugoslavia, emphasizing the variability and diversity of ethnic relations throughout its history.
Contributors are Mart Bax, Brian C. Bennett, Nikolai Botev, Bette Denich, Elinor Despalatovic, Hannes Grandits, Joel M. Halpern, E. A. Hammel, Robert M. Hayden, Goran Jovanovic, Eva V. Huseby-Darvas, David A. Kideckel, Mirjana Lausevic, Lynn D. Maners, Julie Mertus, Robert Gary Minnich, Rajko Mursic, Edit Petrovic, Christian Promitzer, Mirjana Prosic-Dvornic, Janet Reineck, Jonathan Matthew Schwartz, Andrei Simic, and Stevan M. Weine.
Contributors analyze political cartoons, psychiatry, the arts, visual media, and law to present a diversity of views on the conflicts in Yugoslavia. While the chapters in this book deal with regional developments, they are not so much focused on politics as they are concerned with how values and attitudes are altered and new identities formed. Thus, this volume goes beyond recent journalistic accounts and should remain relevant for years to come.
This book began as a special issue of the journal Anthropology of East Europe Review. Most of the contributors to that issue have revised their chapters for this collection, and new chapters have been added, including one on the recent war in Kosovo. Essays range across all of former Yugoslavia, emphasizing the variability and diversity of ethnic relations throughout its history.
Contributors are Mart Bax, Brian C. Bennett, Nikolai Botev, Bette Denich, Elinor Despalatovic, Hannes Grandits, Joel M. Halpern, E. A. Hammel, Robert M. Hayden, Goran Jovanovic, Eva V. Huseby-Darvas, David A. Kideckel, Mirjana Lausevic, Lynn D. Maners, Julie Mertus, Robert Gary Minnich, Rajko Mursic, Edit Petrovic, Christian Promitzer, Mirjana Prosic-Dvornic, Janet Reineck, Jonathan Matthew Schwartz, Andrei Simic, and Stevan M. Weine.
Reviews / Votes
"The essays in Neighbors at War contain an important combination of social history and on-the-ground local investigation. By deconstructing the popular phrase 'age-old ethnic hatreds,' the book successfully challenges the concept as a cause of the war and, instead, analyzes it as an ideological tool in the war."-Carol Silverman, University of Oregon "An impressive effort by two experienced American anthropologists to address the problem primarily from the rich anthropological perspective and tradition. . . . A useful array of different views and interpretations from which greater understanding is possible."
-South Slav Journal "This collection of anthropological and related responses to the demise of the Yugoslav Federation provides welcome relief from the misinformed servings of stereotypes and prophecies that so often pass for analysis. The contributors, veterans of field or archival research, mostly ground their before-and-after comparisons in personal experience. . . . These essays provide interim perspectives rather than conclusive analysis. Readable and nontechnical, they deserve a wide readership."
-Michael Herzfeld Slavic Review
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Pennsylvania
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Illustrations
23 Illustrations; 5 Maps; 12 Halftones, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
835 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-271-01978-9 (9780271019789)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Joel Halpern is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His previous books include A Serbian Village in Historical Perspective, The Changing Village Community, The Changing Peasantry of Eastern Europe, and The Far East Comes Near.
David Kideckel is Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at Central Connecticut State University. His previous books include East European Communities: Seeking Balance in Turbulent Times and The Solitude of Collectivism: Romanian Villagers to the Revolution and Beyond.
The editors have previously collaborated in a review of the state of East Europeanist anthropology published in the Annual Review of Anthropology and the Special Issue on "War Among the Yugoslavs" published by the Anthropology of East Europe Review.
David Kideckel is Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at Central Connecticut State University. His previous books include East European Communities: Seeking Balance in Turbulent Times and The Solitude of Collectivism: Romanian Villagers to the Revolution and Beyond.
The editors have previously collaborated in a review of the state of East Europeanist anthropology published in the Annual Review of Anthropology and the Special Issue on "War Among the Yugoslavs" published by the Anthropology of East Europe Review.