Center for Uncertainty Studies Blog

© Maida Kosatica.

The second Uncertainty Talk of this semester took place on July 8th and featured Maida Kosatica, Junior Professor of Urban Semiotics and Semantics at Duisburg-Essen University. Her talk, titled "Wounds that Don't Heal Easily: Profiling the Language of Uncertainty", addressed trauma and uncertainty in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the widespread diaspora that formed during and after the war from 1992 to 1995 in various European countries. Kosatica defines uncertainty as a lack of stability and emphasizes the growing importance of researching uncertainty within contemporary society, which faces environmental instability and other global threats.

In her talk, Kosatica explored how second-generation diaspora members in Switzerland reconstruct uncertainties from the past related to the war and how they discuss the war in general. She analyzes graffiti and materials from interviews with diaspora members to uncover war-legacy practices and trauma within the second generation. Under the label "Remembering the Feeling," Kosatica reconstructs how the experiences of the parents shape the identity of their children. Silence, PTSD, depression, and unresolved traumas are often present. The researcher also highlights the importance of practices that perpetuate the "us vs. them" differentiation, which continues to fuel hate and violence in Bosnia-Herzegovina and abroad. Enemies are constructed and named through narratives of encounters and the avoidance of such.

Kosatica concludes that the second generation is not liberated from uncertainty, resentment, fear, and trauma but remains part of the authentic war discourse.

The ensuing discussion among attendees from various fields and disciplines began with questions about possible perspectives for peace and mutual understanding in the ongoing conflict. Kosatica pointed out the significant impact of particularized truths regarding events of the war and genocide 30 years ago. Bosniaks, Bosnian Croats, and Bosnian Serbs tend to have conflicting understandings of these events, which are also reflected in movies, the reception of international discourses, and attitudes toward NGOs working to overcome lines of conflict. In the discussion about what other societies can do when faced with conflicts and the resulting uncertainties, as seen in the Bosnian diaspora, Kosatica emphasizes the importance of transparent scholarly work while acknowledging that critical questions remain: Should we remember violence or move on and leave it behind?

Join the discussion at the next CeUS Uncertainty Talk. On October 8th, we will welcome Ian Scoones at the ZiF. More information will follow shortly on the CeUS website.