Date of publishing:
25.3.2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21104/CL.2026.1.03
The Český lid provides open access to all of its content under licenseCreative Commons Attribution NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International.
Abstract:
This article examines the social afterlife of šehidi (martyrs) in north-western Bosnia-Herzegovina, analysing how their presence endures through cemeteries, commemorations, and everyday rituals. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, it explores how sites such as šehidska mezarja (martyrs' cemeteries) and practices like dženaza (funeral) and recitations of El-Fatiha articulate absence-presence and sustain continuing bonds between the living and the dead. Engaging on deathscapes and continuing bonds, the article shows that šehidi are not imagined as ghosts but act as agents whose memory reshapes landscapes, politics, and identities. It considers the institutionalisation of martyrdom, the “cult of šehid,” and the economic and symbolic privileges afforded to survivors’ families. By juxtaposing local practices with artistic and transnational memorial projects, the article highlights how the dead continue to act upon the living, rendering memory and mourning both intimate and deeply political.
Keywords
Bosnia-Herzegovina; šehidi (martyrs); deathscapes; memory and mourning; absence-presence; martyrdom; commemoration
Article Text
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